“Truthful, but prone to frequent errors.” Yet his hadith is supported by two reports. The first is the hadith of Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri, attributed to the Prophet: “He forbade disputation concerning the Quran.” It was narrated by al-Sijzi, as cited in al-Jami‘ al-Saghir.

The other is the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, attributed to the Prophet: “Disputation concerning the Quran is disbelief.” It was narrated by Abu Dawud and others, and is cited in al-Mishkat (236).

2420 — “Do not frighten yourselves after having been safe.” They said, “What is that, O Messenger of Allah?” He said, “Debt.”

Al-Bukhari narrated it in al-Tarikh (3/2/430), as did Ahmad (4/146, 154), ‘Abbas al-Turaqfi in his Hadith (folio 48/1), Abu Ya‘la in his Musnad (98/1), al-Tabarani in al-Kabir (folio 59/1—the selected portion of it), and al-Diya’ al-Maqdisi in al-Muntaqa min Hadith Abi Nu‘aym al-Azhari (283/1), from Bakr ibn ‘Amr al-Ma‘afiri, who said: Shu‘ayb ibn Zur‘ah al-Ma‘afiri narrated to us that he heard ‘Uqbah ibn ‘Amir say it, attributing it to the Prophet.

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy and are among the narrators of al-Bukhari and Muslim, except for Shu‘ayb ibn Zur‘ah. Ibn Abi Hatim listed him (2/1/346), likewise through a report from Abu Qubayl al-Ma‘afiri, but mentioned neither criticism nor accreditation concerning him. In al-Ta‘jil, al-Hafiz further added Yazid ibn Abi Habib and ‘Abd al-Karim ibn al-Harith among those who narrated from him. Thus, four trustworthy narrators transmitted from him, so he is known. Ibn Hibban also mentioned him in al-Thiqat (4/356).