“Al-Bazzar also recorded it in his Musnad and said: ‘Ibn Abi Husayn did not meet Jubayr ibn Mutʿim.’

The third route: Suwayd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz narrates it from Saʿid ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz al-Tanukhi, from Sulayman ibn Musa, from Nafiʿ ibn Jubayr ibn Mutʿim, from his father, with the same wording. It was recorded by al-Tabarani in al-Muʿjam al-Kabir (1/79/1), al-Daraqutni (p. 544), and al-Bayhaqi, who declared it weak because of Suwayd, as mentioned shortly before. Thus, he is the defect in the hadith through this route.

Elsewhere, al-Bayhaqi cited it (5/239) through the first route and through this route, then said: “The first is mursal, while this one is not strong because it is Suwayd’s narration. Abu Maʿbad narrated it from Sulayman, from ʿAmr ibn Dinar, from Jubayr.”

I say: His definite assertion that Abu Maʿbad narrated it from Sulayman is plainly open to question, as will be explained in the fourth route. Know that all three of these routes revolve around Saʿid ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz al-Tanukhi. Although he was a trustworthy imam—Imam Ahmad ranked him alongside Imam al-Awzaʿi—he became confused in the latter part of his life. Perhaps he narrated this hadith during that period of confusion and consequently transmitted it inconsistently, as you have seen. It is also possible that some of this inconsistency came from someone else, as in the third route.

Another narrator transmitted it from Jubayr with a continuous chain, by a different route. This is the fourth route: Ahmad ibn ʿIsa al-Khashshab narrated: ʿAmr ibn Abi Salamah narrated to us; Abu Muʿayd narrated to us from Sulayman ibn Musa, that ʿAmr ibn Dinar related to him from Jubayr ibn Mutʿim, with the same wording. Al-Daraqutni recorded it, saying: Abu Bakr al-Naysaburi narrated to us; Ahmad ibn ʿIsa al-Khashshab informed us ...

I say: This is a chain of transmission whose narrators are all trustworthy except this al-Khashshab, who is weak. Ibn ʿAdi said: “He has objectionable reports.”