of Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, no. 1765. There, I also cited the hadith under discussion in abbreviated form and mentioned a corroborating narration for Muslim ibn Nadhir.
- “The believer’s sins are expiated.”
Al-Hakim (1/58 and 4/251) narrated it through Muhammad ibn Abd al-Aziz (ibn Umar) ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, who said: Husayn ibn Uthman ibn Abd al-Rahman and Abd al-Rahman ibn Humayd ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf narrated to me, from Amir ibn Saʿd, from his father, who attributed it to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He said: “Both of them agreed upon Abd al-Rahman ibn Humayd. This is a singular, authentic hadith which they did not record because this Muhammad ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Zuhri is unknown.”
That is what he said, and al-Dhahabi concurred with him. This is astonishing in two respects:
First: if he was unknown, how could he authenticate his hadith?
Second: he was not unknown; rather, al-Bukhari and others knew him to be extremely weak. Al-Dhahabi himself said in al-Mizan: “Al-Bukhari said: ‘His hadith is rejected.’ Al-Nasa’i said: ‘Abandoned.’ Al-Daraqutni said: ‘Weak.’”
Sahl ibn Bakkar corroborated him, saying: Al-Hasan ibn Uthman narrated to us, from al-Zuhri, from Amir ibn Saʿd, with the same report. Al-Khattabi narrated it in Gharib al-Hadith (151/1). Ibn Abi Hatim mentioned this al-Hasan (1/2/25), through the narration of Saʿid ibn Yahya ibn al-Hasan from him, but did not state any narrator criticism or accreditation concerning him; thus, his status is unknown.
Nor is he strengthened by the fact that Abd al-Rahman ibn Humayd ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf—who is al-Zuhri—was mentioned alongside him, since, as you have seen, this comes through the narration of that weak narrator!