Accordingly, I say: Were it not for Ibn al-Sharqi in this hadith’s chain—his name being ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan—and for Ibn Hamid, who narrated from him and for whom I could find no biographical notice, I would have judged this chain authentic. I then saw that al-Bayhaqi transmitted it in Shu‘ab al-Iman (2/36/2) by another route. He said: Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-‘Alawi narrated to us; Abd ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Sharqi informed us; ‘Abd Allah ibn Hashim narrated to us, with the same wording. Thus, the issue posed by Ibn Hamid was removed.

The fourth: ‘Abd Allah ibn Hayyan, from Sufyan, with the same wording. Al-Nujayrami transmitted it in al-Fawa’id, immediately before the preceding route, through ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-Khwarizmi, who said: ‘Abd Allah ibn Hayyan narrated it to us, with the same wording. Regarding this Ibn Hayyan, Ibn Abi Hatim said (2/2/41): “He narrated from Sahl ibn Mu‘adh, and al-Layth ibn Sa‘id narrated from him.” He is therefore unknown in status. However, al-Hafiz included him in al-Lisan and said: “Abu Nu‘aym said in his History: ‘He came to Isfahan and narrated there; his hadith contains objectionable reports.’”

The fifth: al-Firyabi, from Sufyan, with the same wording. Al-Bazzar transmitted it in his Musnad (p. 318 of its supplements), saying: Al-Fadl ibn Ya‘qub narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Firyabi narrated to us, with the same wording. He said: “We know of no one who narrated it as a report with a continuous chain to the Prophet by this route other than Sufyan, and no one who narrated it from him other than al-Firyabi.”

I say: He is trustworthy and among the narrators relied upon by both al-Bukhari and Muslim, as are those above him in the chain. For this reason, al-Haythami said in al-Majma‘ (60/415): “Al-Tabarani transmitted it in al-Awsat, as did al-Bazzar, and the narrators in al-Bazzar’s chain are the narrators of the Sahih.”

I say: This al-Fadl ibn Ya‘qub was Abu al-‘Abbas al-Rakhami. He was trustworthy and one of al-Bukhari’s shaykhs. Al-Khatib gave his biography (12/316) and listed this al-Firyabi among his shaykhs. Thus, the chain is authentic—praise be to Allah for His enabling grace.

I say: These are five routes from Sufyan al-Thawri, none of which contains an accused narrator except for the first.