I say: This is how it appears—“Abu Himnah.” Yet in al-Jarḥ (3/2/241), it is given as “Abu Khubayyah,” and he quoted his father as saying of him: “There is nothing objectionable about him.” Al-Hafiz said in al-Taqrib: “There is disagreement over his kunyah; his epithet is Su’r al-Asad; truthful.” Al-Himmani has some weakness, despite being among the narrators cited by both al-Bukhari and Muslim. Al-Hafiz said: “Truthful, but makes errors.”

I say: In sum, in view of all its chains, the hadith is, in my opinion, good at the very least. Allah knows best. I then found the hadith in The Book of the Sunnah by Ibn Abi Asim (1001): Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us: Abu Mu‘awiyah narrated to us, from Muhammad ibn Khalid, from Ata, with this report. This is an authentic mursal chain of transmission; all its narrators are trustworthy. It constitutes strong corroboration from Abu Mu‘awiyah for Abu Yahya al-Himmani, refuting Abu Nu‘aym’s assertion that al-Himmani alone transmitted it!

2341 — “Whoever conceals the faults of his Muslim brother in this world, Allah will conceal his faults on the Day of Resurrection.”

Ahmad transmitted it (4/62 and 5/375) from Abd al-Malik ibn Umayr, from Hubayb, from his uncle, who said: “A man among the Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, learned that another man among the Companions of the Prophet was relating from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that he said”—and he mentioned the hadith. “So he travelled to him, while he was in Egypt, and asked him about the hadith. He said: ‘Yes, I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say’”—and he mentioned the hadith. He said: “And I too had heard it from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.”

I say: The narrators in its chain have been declared trustworthy.