It was recorded by al-Tirmidhi (2/377–378), Ahmad (3/422), al-Bazzar (p. 298, al-Zawaʾid), and al-Bayhaqi in al-Shuʿab (1/368), through Wahb ibn Jarir, who said: My father narrated to us: I heard Mansur ibn Zadhan narrate from Maymun ibn Abi Shabib, from Qays ibn Saʿd, with it. Al-Tirmidhi said: “A good, authentic, singular hadith.”

I say: It is as he said, although it has been deemed defective on account of a break in its chain, as will follow. Al-Haythami said in Majmaʿ al-Zawaʾid (10/98): “Al-Bazzar narrated it, and all its narrators are among the narrators of the Sahih collections, apart from Maymun ibn Abi Shabib, who is trustworthy.”

I say: Al-Hafiz criticized this in Zawaʾid al-Bazzar, saying: “But he did not hear from Qays.” I say: I do not know on what basis al-Hafiz made this categorical denial, particularly since he mentioned in al-Tahdhib that he narrated from Muʿadh ibn Jabal, ʿUmar, ʿAli, Abu Dharr, al-Miqdad, Ibn Masʿud, al-Mughirah ibn Shuʿbah, ʿAʾishah, and others. The date of his death does not preclude his having heard from him, for he died in 83 AH, whereas Qays ibn Saʿd died in 60 AH. Abu Dawud’s statement, “He did not live to see ʿAʾishah,” seems far-fetched to me: she died in 57 AH, so there were only twenty-six years between their deaths. He certainly lived in her lifetime. Of course, merely living in someone’s lifetime does not necessarily establish that one heard from them; that is another matter. What supports what I have said is that al-Hafiz himself listed him in al-Taqrib among the third rank, the middle rank of the Successors who narrated from the Companions, such as al-Hasan al-Basri and Ibn Sirin. And Allah knows best.

Note: Al-Haythami, and then Ibn Hajar al-ʿAsqalani, overlooked the fact that the hadith of Qays appears in Sunan al-Tirmidhi. Thus, the former included it in Majmaʿ al-Zawaʾid, and al-Hafiz included it in Zawaʾid al-Bazzar. Al-Mundhiri likewise overlooked this and did not attribute it to al-Tirmidhi; rather, he said (2/256): “Al-Hakim narrated it and said: ‘It is authentic according to the criteria of both al-Bukhari and Muslim.’”