As for Ibn Ḥibbān, he listed him among the trustworthy narrators in al-Thiqāt (1/264)! According to the other route, however, it is authentic, for Ibn Maʿīn said of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sinān: “Trustworthy.” He was from Kūfah, as stated in al-Jarḥ wa-al-Taʿdīl (2/2/68). He narrated from Ibn Masʿūd and Saʿd ibn Masʿūd, and Abū Ḥuṣayn, besides al-Aʿmash, narrated from him. In Ibn Ḥibbān’s al-Thiqāt (3/143), it says: “ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sinān: I heard Ibn ʿAbbās ... He narrated from al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid.” Yet this route is anomalous. Ibn Abī Ḥātim said in al-ʿIlal (2/245): “My father said: Al-Thawrī contradicted the people in this hadith; the first version is the correct one.” Al-Ṭabarānī mentioned something similar.

I say: Al-Ḥākim’s statement concerning it, “Its chain of transmission is authentic,” is one in which he was lenient. However, Ibn Shāhīn narrated it—as cited in al-Iṣābah—by way of Mūsā ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr, from his father, from Ḍirār, with the same meaning. This is a strong corroborating narration, for ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr is among the narrators of both al-Bukhārī and Muslim. But concerning his son Mūsā, Ibn Abī Ḥātim (4/1/151) reported from his father: “Weak in hadith.” Ibn Ḥibbān listed him among the trustworthy narrators, as stated in al-Lisān. Thus, when its two routes are considered together, the hadith is good. And Allah knows best.

The meaning of the hadith is: Leave a little milk in the udder, and do not drain it completely. What remains in it draws down the milk behind it; but when everything in the udder is fully extracted, its flow is slow to return for the one milking it. Thus stated in al-Nihāyah.

1861 — “The blood of a light-coloured sheep is more beloved to Allah than the blood of two black sheep.”

It was narrated by al-Ḥākim (4/227), Aḥmad (2/417), and Ibn ʿAsākir (6/97/1), from Abū Thufāl, from Ribāḥ ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from Abū Hurayrah, in a report attributed to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.