I then found that Ibn Abi Hatim had declared al-Atrabulusi’s hadith defective on the basis of a strange alleged hidden defect. He said (2/126): “My father said: ‘This is a rejected hadith. It is possible that ‘Abbad ibn Kathir stands between Mu‘awiyah and Abu al-Zinad; and he is, in my view, al-Atrabulusi.’”

I say: This is a refuted possibility, which could be claimed regarding every established narration from trustworthy narrators. Such a claim cannot be accepted without proof, and he did not mention any. He did, however, mention it elsewhere; but when I examined it, its weakness became clear, and the invalidity of this possibility was further confirmed. He said (2/133), reporting from his father: “I used to admire this hadith, until its flaw became apparent to me. It turned out to be Mu‘awiyah, from ‘Abbad ibn Kathir, from Abu al-Zinad. Abu Zur‘ah said: ‘What is correct is what al-Darawardi narrated from ‘Abbad ibn Kathir, from Abu al-Zinad. Thus, ‘Abbad ibn Kathir stands between Mu‘awiyah ibn Yahya and Abu al-Zinad; and ‘Abbad is not strong.’”

I say: Al-Darawardi’s narration of it from ‘Abbad does not entail that another narrator’s transmission from Abu al-Zinad must have been through him. Do you not see that, together with Mu‘awiyah, Tariq ibn ‘Ammar and Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Hasan—all three—narrated it from Abu al-Zinad? Thus, the claim that the abandoned ‘Abbad stood between these three and their teacher Abu al-Zinad is a false and refuted assertion, whose invalidity is plainly evident. I am amazed that this imam adopted it!

Mu’nah, also pronounced mu’ūnah, means provisions; its plurals are mu’an and mu’ūnāt, as stated in The Intermediate Dictionary.

1665 — “Indeed, Allah brings forth the clouds; then He speaks in the most excellent manner of speech and laughs in the most excellent manner of laughter.”

Recorded by Ahmad (5/435), al-‘Uqayli (p. 10), Ibn Mandah in Knowledge (2/279/1), al-Ramahurmuzi in Proverbs (p. 154, Hind edition), and al-Bayhaqi in The Names