Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd is al-Anṣārī al-Najjārī, Abū Saʿīd, the Medinan judge.
3 and 4. As for the hadith of ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir and Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān, it is narrated by ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, who said that the client of Shuraḥbīl ibn Ḥasanah told him that he heard ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir and Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān say: He then related it as a hadith attributed to the Prophet. Aḥmad recorded it (4/156 and 5/388).
- “Everything that cuts through the jugular veins, provided it is not a fang’s bite or a nail’s cut.”
Al-Bayhaqī recorded it (9/278) through the route of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Zaḥr, from al-Qāsim, the client of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from Abū Umāmah al-Bāhilī—may Allah be pleased with him—as a hadith attributed to the Prophet. He said: “Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb said: ‘My copy does not contain: from ʿAlī ibn Yazīd.’”
I say: Perhaps he meant that what is well known of the many hadiths which Ibn Zaḥr narrates from al-Qāsim through this chain of transmission is that ʿAlī ibn Yazīd—al-Alhānī—stands between them. Yet, since he did not find ʿAlī ibn Yazīd in his copy, he did not mention him in the chain of transmission, while drawing attention to this. It appears that this hadith is among those reports, for al-Haythamī cited it in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid (4/34) and said: “Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it in al-Kabīr, and its chain contains ʿAlī ibn Zayd, who is weak, though he has been declared trustworthy.” Al-Bayhaqī then said: “There is weakness in this chain of transmission.”
I say: Its weakness is more severe than this expression suggests. Nevertheless, I consider the hadith to be strengthened by two supporting reports. The first is from Ḥudhayfah, attributed to the Prophet, with the wording: