in The Book of Medicine, from ‘Ali). I then found it cited in The Book of Retaliation (vol. 15, p. 45, no. 40015), where it is attributed in abridged form, without the story, to (Hb), from him.

Accordingly, I first had to verify whether this addition could soundly be attributed to Ibn Abi Shaybah, and then whether it was authentically established from ‘Abd al-Rahim ibn Sulayman. I found the hadith in Abu Nu‘aym’s The Book of Medicine (97/2) and al-Bayhaqi’s Branches of Faith (2/518/2575). Both narrated it through Muhammad ibn ‘Uthman ibn Abi Shaybah: “My uncle Abu Bakr narrated to us; ‘Abd al-Rahim ibn Sulayman narrated to us,” with the addition, “from ‘Ali.”

It thus became clear to me that this addition is not authentic from either of them. For Muhammad ibn ‘Uthman ibn Abi Shaybah—who was the nephew of Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn Abi Shaybah, the author of the Musannaf—despite being a hadith memorizer, was the subject of sharply divergent judgments: some declared him trustworthy, and others said, “There is no harm in him,” while others declared him a liar and said, “He used to fabricate hadith.” A brief biographical notice on him appears in al-Mizan, al-Lisan, and Biographies of the Eminent Figures (14/21–23). Al-Dhahabi included him among the weak narrators and said:

“A hadith memorizer; Jazrah declared him trustworthy, while ‘Abdullah ibn Ahmad declared him a liar.”

I say: Moreover, he contradicted the eminent, trustworthy hadith master Baqi ibn Makhlad, who transmitted the Musannaf from Ibn Abi Shaybah. His addition over Baqi’s narration is therefore rejected and unsound. Thus, the report from Ibn al-Hanafiyyah remains mursal, though it is strengthened by the connected report from Ibn Mas‘ud cited there. And Allah Most High grants success.

4—704— “Do not initiate greetings to the Jews and Christians…”

The following should be appended to the end of the discussion under this hadith concerning the return of greetings to a dhimmi:

One of our brethren then read to me from Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah’s Rulings Concerning the Dhimmis (1/199–200) something that entirely accords with what I had said regarding responding to the People of the Book, subject to the condition mentioned. All praise is due to Allah, by Whose blessing righteous deeds are brought to completion.