al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ, which is an error, for al-Haythamī attributed it only to al-Muʿjam al-Ṣaghīr and said: “It contains Muḥammad ibn Kathīr ibn Marwān al-Fihrī, who is weak.”

I say: Rather, he is very weak, as I explained there. It also has a corroborating report from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī in mursal form. Ibn al-Marzubān transmitted it in Kitāb al-Murūʾah (1/2): ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Qurashī told us; ʿAlī ibn Sulaymān told us, from al-Faḍl ibn Rūḥ, from him. This is an obscure chain of transmission; I do not know those below al-Ḥasan. Al-Qurashī may possibly be Abū al-Ḥasan al-Madāʾinī, the transmitter of historical reports and author of works, concerning whom there is criticism.

He then transmitted it through Ibrāhīm ibn al-Faḍl, from Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad—may Allah be pleased with him—traced back to the Prophet, with the wording: “Overlook the slips of a person of dignified character. For by Him in Whose Hand is my soul, one of them may stumble while his hand is in the Hand of Allah, Most High.” This is very weak, for in addition to having a double break, it contains Ibrāhīm ibn al-Faḍl, who is abandoned. The routes and corroborating reports already mentioned are sufficient. And Allah knows best.

As for what ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd Allāh, Abū ʿUmar al-Ramlī, related: Dhū al-Nūn ibn Ibrāhīm, the Egyptian ascetic, told us; Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ, the ascetic, told us; Layth told us, from Mujāhid, from Ibn ʿAbbās, traced back to the Prophet, with the wording: “Overlook the sin of the generous person, the slip of the scholar, and the severity of the just ruler, for Allah Most High takes them by their hands whenever one of them stumbles.”