al-ʿIlal (Defects) (1/74, 2/165, and 186), where he said: “I asked my father and Abu Zurʿah about a hadith narrated by Yusuf ibn ʿAdi”—then he quoted it. They said: “This is mistaken. Rather, it is Hisham ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, who used to say this.” Jarir also narrated it in this manner. Abu Zurʿah said: “Yusuf ibn ʿAdi narrated this hadith to us, and it is rejected. I also heard my father say: ‘This is a rejected hadith.’”

I say: Jarir is Ibn ʿAbd al-Hamid. Although he was trustworthy, there is some critical discussion concerning him, as will be mentioned below. Yusuf ibn ʿAdi is trustworthy, and his version contains an additional detail. In a case such as this, it must be accepted, for Jarir was not more retentive than he was. Indeed, al-Bayhaqi said: “Toward the end of his life, he was said to have had poor retention.” Perhaps for this reason, al-Hafiz al-ʿIraqi said in his Amali, as cited by al-Manawi: “An authentic hadith.”

2067 — “When he performed minor ablution, he would run water over his elbows.”

Al-Daraqutni narrated it in his Sunan (p. 31), as did al-Bayhaqi (1/56), through al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAbdullah ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAqil, from his grandfather, from Jabir, who related it as attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Al-Daraqutni said: “Ibn ʿAqil is not strong.”

I say: It appears that he meant the grandfather, namely ʿAbdullah ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAqil, concerning whom there is disagreement. The more correct view is that his hadith is good when he does not contradict others. Accordingly, it would have been more appropriate to declare it defective on account of his grandson, for he is severely weak. Al-Dhahabi said in al-Duʿafaʾ (The Weak Narrators): “Abu Hatim and others said: ‘Abandoned.’ Ahmad said: ‘He is nothing.’”

There is also a report on this subject from Thaʿlabah ibn ʿAbbad, from his father, attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, in a hadith concerning the merit of minor ablution: