Third: The Shaykh doubted the authenticity of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd’s question to ʿAbbād as to whether he had heard those hadiths from ʿIkrimah. What led him to doubt its authenticity was not any weakness he had found in its chain of transmission; rather, it was an inconsistency which he claimed existed in its text. He mentioned that al-Mīzān gives the wording, “Ibn Abī Yaḥyā narrated to me,” instead of, “Ibn Abī Yaḥyā narrated them,” which was previously quoted from al-Tahdhīb.

I say: Although such a difference is not deemed a discrepancy that impugns authenticity by those knowledgeable in this field—for the possibly ambiguous report may be understood in light of the explicit one, as is clear—the first wording is nevertheless more likely, indeed preponderant in my view, since it is established in al-ʿUqaylī’s al-Ḍuʿafāʾ. Its chain of transmission is as follows (p. 273): Muḥammad ibn Mūsā narrated to us; he said: Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān narrated to us; he said: I heard Aḥmad ibn Dāwūd al-Ḥaddād say: I heard ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī say: I heard Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān say—then he cited it. Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Mizzī also transmitted it in al-Tahdhīb by way of al-ʿUqaylī.

I say: This is a sound chain of transmission. This al-Ḥaddād was trustworthy; he is profiled in Tārīkh Baghdād (4/183–140), and died in 201 or 202 AH.

Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān appears to be Abū Jaʿfar al-Maṣṣīṣī, known as Luwayn. He was trustworthy, one of the narrators included in al-Tahdhīb, and died in 240 AH.

Muḥammad ibn Mūsā was Abū ʿAbd Allāh, known as al-Nahritīrī. He too was an eminent trustworthy narrator, profiled in al-Tārīkh (3/241–242), and died in 289 AH.

I say: This source documentation makes it clear that the report is authentically established from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān, with the very wording that invalidates Shaykh Aḥmad’s interpretation of it, as stated above. It also establishes ʿAbbād’s admission that he had not heard those hadiths from ʿIkrimah, but had received them from Ibrāhīm—who is very weak, as the Shaykh himself acknowledged—through Dāwūd, who is weak specifically in his narrations from ʿIkrimah.

Fourth: As for the Shaykh’s claim that Ibn Abī Yaḥyā was not Ibrāhīm, but rather Muḥammad ibn Abī