“He had errors.” Thus, it is feared that he may have erred in attributing to al-Thawri the narration from him, from Habib—contrary to the reports of the two reliable narrators referred to in Ahmad’s version. Moreover, Habib practised tadlīs (obscuring defects in a chain of transmission).

2410 — “The believer’s pain and illness expiate his sins.”

Ibn Abi al-Dunya recorded it in al-Marad wa-al-Kaffarat (ff. 164/1 and 172/1), as did al-Hakim (1/347), through Ubayd Allah ibn Musa: Israel informed us from Abdullah ibn al-Mukhtar, from Ibn Sirin, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say it. Al-Hakim said: “Authentic,” and al-Dhahabi agreed with him. I say: It meets Muslim’s criteria. Al-Hakim cited it as corroborating evidence.

Ibn Abi Hatim, however, criticized it on the basis of an odd hidden defect. He said in al-Ilal (2/167): “I used to find this hadith strange, so I investigated it and found that it was an error. Hammad ibn Zayd narrated it from Ayyub, from Muhammad ibn Sirin, from Abu al-Rabab al-Qushayri, from Abu al-Darda, who said: ‘The believer’s pain and illness …’ as his own statement, not attributed to the Prophet.”

The hadith has many corroborating reports. Al-Mundhiri collected many of them at the end of al-Targhib, and a number of them have already preceded. See, for example, hadiths 272, 714, 1103, and 1611.

Wasab: pain and illness.