Maymūn ibn al-Aṣbagh was narrated from by a number of scholars, including al-Nasāʾī and Abū Ḥātim. Ibn Ḥibbān listed him among the trustworthy narrators, and al-Haythamī said (6/229): “Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it, and its narrators are trustworthy.”

Al-Rūyānī also narrated it in his Musnad (10/59/1): Abū Bakr informed us; Saʿīd ibn Abī Maryam informed us, through the same chain, except that he said, “Shuʿayb ibn Zurʿah” in place of Mishraḥ ibn Hāʿān. Perhaps Bakr ibn ʿAmr heard it from both of them, and would at times narrate it from one and at other times from the other. Ibn Abī Ḥātim also mentioned Shuʿayb ibn Zurʿah (2/1/346), through a narration of Abū Qubayl from him, but offered no narrator criticism or accreditation concerning him.

1887 — “There will come upon the people years of deceit, in which the liar will be believed and the truthful person disbelieved; the traitor will be entrusted, the trustworthy person accused of treachery, and the Ruwaybiḍah will speak.” It was asked, “What is the Ruwaybiḍah?” He said: “An insignificant man who speaks about public affairs.”

Ibn Mājah (4042), al-Ḥākim (4/465, 512), Aḥmad (2/291), and al-Kharāʾiṭī in Makarim al-Akhlāq (p. 30) narrated it through ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Qudāmah al-Jumaḥī, from Isḥāq ibn Abī al-Furāt, from al-Maqburī, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah said—then he cited it.

Al-Ḥākim said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” Al-Dhahabī agreed with him. This is what they both said, though it is astonishing—especially coming from al-Dhahabī—for he included this Ibn Qudāmah in al-Mīzān, cited a number of scholars who declared him weak, and said in al-Ḍuʿafāʾ: “Abū Ḥātim and others said: He is not strong.”