As for what he transmitted (1) from al-Tha‘labī’s commentary, hadith scholars unanimously agree that al-Tha‘labī narrates (2) a number of fabricated hadiths. These include the hadith he narrates at the beginning of every surah from Abū Umāmah concerning that surah’s virtue, and other such reports. Hence they say:

“He is like one gathering firewood by night.”

The same applies to his student al-Wāhidī and other commentators like them: they transmit both authentic and weak reports.

Since al-Baghawī was a hadith scholar and more knowledgeable in the field than al-Tha‘labī and al-Wāhidī, and since his commentary was an abridgment of al-Tha‘labī’s, he included none of the fabricated hadiths narrated by al-Tha‘labī in his own commentary. Nor did he include the interpretations of the adherents of innovation that al-Tha‘labī mentioned (3). Although al-Tha‘labī possessed goodness and religious devotion, he lacked expertise in identifying which hadiths are authentic, (4) and in many matters he did not distinguish between the sunnah and religious innovation (5).