I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission. All its narrators are trustworthy and meet Muslim’s criteria, apart from this al-Nadr. Abu al-Shaykh included a biographical notice on him without mentioning either criticism or accreditation. However, Ibn Abi Hatim said in al-Jarh wa-l-Taʿdil (4/1/481): “Al-Nadr ibn Hisham al-Isfahani narrated from al-Husayn ibn Hafs, ‘Amir ibn Ibrahim, and Bakr ibn Bakkar. I wrote from him in Isfahan, and he was truthful.”

The third: Mu‘adh ibn Mu‘adh al-‘Anbari, from Sufyan, with the same wording. Abu ‘Uthman al-Nujayrami reported it in al-Fawa’id (2/2/2) through the route of ‘Abd Allah ibn Hashim, who said: “Mu‘adh ibn Mu‘adh al-‘Anbari narrated to us,” with the same wording. He said: “‘Abd Allah ibn Hamid”—that is, his shaykh—“said: I asked ‘Abd Allah al-Sharqi”—that is, Ibn Hamid’s shaykh and the narrator from Ibn Hashim—“How did this hadith come to be narrated? He replied: ‘Abd Allah ibn Hashim lost his sight, so this hadith was prompted to him, and he accepted the prompting.’”

I say: ‘Abd Allah ibn Hashim was al-Tusi al-Naysaburi. He was trustworthy, one of Muslim’s narrators and shaykhs, and they unanimously declared him reliable. I have not seen any of the leading scholars accuse him of accepting prompted reports or of any other fault. (1) Thus, al-Sharqi’s charge against him on that count cannot be accepted, especially since al-Sharqi himself was subject to criticism, even though al-Sam‘ani described him as a hadith scholar of Nishapur. Al-Dhahabi included him in al-Mizan and said: “His transmissions from such scholars as al-Dhuhali and those of his rank are sound, but he was criticized for his habitual drinking of intoxicants.”

Ibn al-‘Imad related in al-Shadharat (2/313) that al-Hakim said: “I saw him, and he was unrivalled in his time in knowledge of medicine. He did not abandon drinking until he died, and his reliability was thereby impaired.” Al-Hafiz also mentioned in al-Lisan an anecdote about him that indicates either his ignorance of the Prophet’s saying concerning wine, “It is a disease, not a remedy,” peace and blessings be upon him, or his deliberate disregard of it. Otherwise, how could he instruct a sick person to drink well-aged wine? Allah’s help is sought.