and Yahya al-Hammānī—whose initial ḥ is vowelled with i and whose m is doubled—also corroborated him, narrating from Sulayman ibn Bilal. Abu Awanah transmitted it through Bishr ibn Amr from Sulayman ibn Bilal, who said: “Sixty-odd or seventy-odd.” The same uncertainty occurs in Muslim’s narration through Suhayl ibn Abi Salih from Abdullah ibn Dinar. The three compilers of the Sunan narrated it through him as: “Seventy-odd,” without any doubt. Abu Awanah also records in his Sahih, through a route: “Seventy-six or seventy-seven.”

Al-Bayhaqi preferred al-Bukhari’s narration because Sulayman did not express uncertainty. This is open to question in view of what we have mentioned of Bishr ibn Amr’s narration from him, in which he too was uncertain. Yet it is preferred because it is the certain version, while all others are subject to doubt. As for al-Tirmidhi’s narration with the wording, “Sixty-four,” it is defective; and even if it is assumed to be authentic, it does not conflict with al-Bukhari’s narration. Preferring the narration of “seventy-odd” on the grounds that it constitutes an addition by a trustworthy narrator—as al-Halimi and then Iyad stated—is not sound, since the one who added it did not consistently state it with certainty, especially when the reports have a common source. This demonstrates the penetrating insight of al-Bukhari. Ibn al-Salah preferred the lower number because it is the certain one.”

I say: There is no doubt that adopting the lower number is what is certain when the reports are inconsistent and it is impossible to give preference to one of their variant forms. But that is not the case here, in my analysis, because Muslim’s narration from Sulayman is weightier than al-Bukhari’s narration from him, since it comes through two routes from Abu Amir, from Sulayman, as was previously indicated—contrary to al-Hafiz’s preceding statement: “The routes from Abu Amir do not differ ...” Al-Hammānī’s corroboration of him is of no consequence to the matter at hand, because al-Hammānī is weak.

Thus, if Muslim’s narration from Abu Amir is preferred, Sulayman ibn Bilal becomes a corroborating narrator for Suhayl ibn Abi Salih through the narrations of Sufyan and Hammad ibn Salamah from Suhayl, with the wording, “Seventy-odd.” Through this corroboration, this wording outweighs all the other wordings, especially since in most of them the narrators hesitated and expressed doubt. Once this is coupled with the fact that an addition by a trustworthy narrator is accepted, then the preference for this wording stated by al-Halimi and then Iyad is sound. Al-Hafiz’s objection—“since the one who added it did not consistently state it with certainty”—does not apply, because it is sufficient to maintain that stating it with certainty is the weightier view, as we have explained. And Allah knows best.

As for the wording, “Sixty-four,” al-Tirmidhi and Ahmad (2/379) transmitted it through Umarah ibn Ghaziyyah from Abu Salih, with this wording.