“Related by al-Bazzar and al-Tabarani in al-Kabir; and in al-Awsat, it contains only: ‘The child is among the father’s earnings.’ Its chain includes Maymun ibn Yazid, whom Abu Hatim deemed weak, and Wahb ibn Yahya ibn Zimam, for whom I have found no biographical entry; the rest of its narrators are trustworthy.”

What appears in al-Jarh wa al-Ta‘dil by Ibn Abi Hatim (4/1/239) is: “Maymun ibn Zayd, Abu Ibrahim al-Saqqa, a Basran, narrated from Layth …” He then cited his father as saying: “His hadith is weak.” He mentioned the substance of this in al-Mizan, except that he gave his lineage as: “Ibn Zayd, or Ibn Yazid, Abu Ibrahim.”

Al-Hafiz added in al-Lisan: “Ibn Hibban mentioned him in al-Thiqat: Ibn Zayd ibn Abi ‘Abs (1) ibn Jabr al-Ansari al-Harithi, one of the people of Medina. The people of the Hijaz narrated from him.”

I say: It appears to me that this is not the same person whom Abu Hatim deemed weak. This one was Medinan, whereas that one was Basran; thus, they are distinct. This, then, is the one whom Ibn Hibban declared trustworthy. And Allah knows best.

I then found support for the distinction I have mentioned: Ibn Abi Hatim also listed the Medinan man before the Basran one in a separate biographical entry and said: “He narrated from his father, and … narrated from him.” The original text is thus left blank regarding the one who narrated from him, and it mentions neither criticism nor accreditation concerning him. Al-Bukhari did likewise before him in al-Tarikh (4/1/341), but it helps to fill in the blank in al-Jarh, for al-Bukhari said: “He is counted among the people of Medina,” as though he meant that he was narrated from by