I say: This is how it appears in al-Mustadrak: “Abū al-Muthannā Muʿādh ibn Muʿādh al-ʿAnbarī narrated to us: My father narrated to us.” In al-Mashyakha, it reads: “Muʿādh ibn al-Muthannā informed us: My father informed us.” All of this is the result of scribal corruption. The correct reading is: “al-Muthannā ibn Muʿādh ibn al-ʿAnbarī,” as becomes clear upon consulting the biographies of the father and son in Tārīkh Baghdād, Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, and other works. Al-Ṭaḥāwī stated categorically in Mushkil al-Āthār (3/216) that Muʿādh ibn Muʿādh al-ʿAnbarī narrated it from Shuʿbah.

Both men are trustworthy, although al-Bukhārī did not record anything from al-Muthannā. Thus, the chain is apparently sound, though the fact that Shuʿbah’s companions stopped this hadith at Abū Mūsā may constitute a hidden defect. However, Muʿādh ibn Muʿādh was not alone in narrating it: Dāwūd ibn Ibrāhīm al-Wāsiṭī corroborated him, saying, “Shuʿbah narrated it to us with this chain.” Abū Nuʿaym recorded it in Masānīd Abī Yaḥyā Firās (folio 92/1). This Dāwūd is trustworthy, as stated in al-Jarḥ (1/2/407).

ʿAmr ibn Ḥakām also corroborated him, though he is weak. Abū Nuʿaym and al-Ṭaḥāwī both recorded it. ʿUthmān ibn ʿUmar, who is likewise trustworthy, also corroborated him, saying, “Shuʿbah narrated it to us with this chain.” Al-Daylamī recorded it (2/58).

I have also found another route from al-Shaʿbī. Ibn ʿAsākir narrated it (8/182/1–2) from Isḥāq ibn Wahb—a man from Bukhara—from al-Ṣalt ibn Bahrām, from al-Shaʿbī, with the same hadith. However, al-Khalīlī mentioned this Isḥāq in al-Irshād and said: “Both recognized and objectionable reports are narrated from him, as are collections transmitted by weak narrators.”