“It was narrated by Aḥmad, al-Bazzār, and Abū Yaʿlā. Aḥmad’s narrators are the narrators of the Ṣaḥīḥ, except for Maymūn ibn ʿAjlān, whom Ibn Ḥibbān declared trustworthy, and whom no one has declared weak.”

I say: This is a problematic discrepancy, and I have not been able to determine which of the two versions is more likely to be correct. The chain leading to Maymūn al-Murāʾī is authentic, as is that leading to Maymūn ibn ʿAjlān. Ibn Abī Ḥātim included a biographical entry for him in al-Jarḥ wa-l-Taʿdīl (Narrator Criticism and Accreditation) (4/1/239), but mentioned nothing about him beyond what may be inferred from Abū Yaʿlā’s chain. He said: “My father was asked about him, and he replied: ‘A shaykh.’” Allah knows best which of the two reports is correct.

In sum, the hadith, on the strength of all its chains and its corroborating report, is authentic—or, at the very least, good, as al-Tirmidhī said.

526 — “When a believer meets another believer, greets him, takes him by the hand, and shakes it, their sins fall away as the leaves fall from a tree.”

Al-Mundhirī mentioned it in al-Targhīb (3/270), followed by al-Haythamī in al-Majmaʿ (8/36), from al-Ṭabarānī’s al-Awsaṭ, on the authority of Ḥudhayfah. The former said: “I know of no narrator among them who has been criticized.” The latter said: “More than one person narrated from Yaʿqūb ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ṭaḥlāʾ, and no one has declared him weak; the rest of its narrators are trustworthy.”

I say: There is something puzzling in this statement, for it is only said of a narrator, “More than one person narrated from him, and no one has declared him weak,” when he is of unknown standing and has not been explicitly declared trustworthy. This is not the case with Ibn al-Ṭaḥlāʾ, for Aḥmad, Ibn Maʿīn, Abū Ḥātim, and others declared him trustworthy, and Muslim relied upon him. Therefore, I fear that this Yaʿqūb ibn Muḥammad is someone other than Ibn al-Ṭaḥlāʾ. Allah knows best.

I have found another chain for the hadith by which it is strengthened. ʿAbd Allāh ibn Wahb said in al-Jāmiʿ: