Sulayman ibn Musa added, “and slaughtering,” meaning: “days of slaughtering”—Ibn Jurayj related this.
I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission, all of whose narrators are trustworthy. However, it does not contain the phrase “and slaughtering,” which is the point at issue. Rather, it only states that Ibn Jurayj narrated it from Sulayman ibn Musa—that is, as a mursal report, since he did not mention its chain of transmission. Thus, it is a strong mursal corroborating report for the preceding connected chains.
- Al-Bayhaqi said: “Muʿawiyah ibn Yahya al-Sadafi also narrated it from al-Zuhri, from Saʿid ibn al-Musayyib—on one occasion—from Abu Saʿid, and on another from Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with them, from the Prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, with the same wording.” He then cited its chain of transmission to him and said: “Abu Ahmad ibn ʿAdi said: Whether he says, ‘from al-Zuhri, from Saʿid, from Abu Hurayrah,’ or says, ‘from al-Zuhri, from Ibn al-Musayyib, from Abu Saʿid,’ neither version is preserved; no one narrates either of them except al-Sadafi.” Al-Bayhaqi said: “Al-Sadafi is weak and cannot be cited as proof.”
I say: In al-Taqrib, it states: “Weak; yet what he narrated in Syria is better than what he narrated in Rayy.” I say: This is among what he narrated in Syria, for Muhammad ibn Shuʿayb—namely Ibn Shabur al-Dimashqi—narrated it from him. Therefore, Abu Hatim went too far when he said, as his son related in al-ʿIlal (2/38): “In my view, this hadith is fabricated!” In my view, the correct judgment is that, in light of the preceding corroborating reports, it is no lower than the rank of good, especially since a number of the Companions held this view, as stated in al-Nawawi’s Commentary on Muslim and his al-Majmuʿ (8/390).