Al-Haythami said nothing of this hidden defect, stating in al-Majmaʿ (3/16): “Al-Bazzar narrated it, and its narrators are trustworthy.”

I say: I attributed the discrepancy to al-Bazzar, rather than to his shaykh al-ʿAbbas ibn ʿAbd Allah, who narrated directly from Abu al-Mughirah, because al-Bazzar had criticized him. His shaykh, by contrast—the one known as al-Taraqafi—was a trustworthy hadith master. Abu al-Mughirah also had another shaykh from whom he narrated from Safwan. Safwan said: “Abu Ziyad Yahya ibn ʿUbayd al-Ghassani narrated to me from Yazid ibn Qutayb, from Muʿadh, that he would say: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, sent me to Yemen and said: ‘Perhaps you will pass by my grave and my mosque. I have sent you to a people tender of heart, who fight for the truth’”—twice—“‘so fight, with those among them who obey you, those who disobey you. Then they will return to Islam, until a woman hastens ahead of her husband, a child of his father, and a brother of his brother. Settle between the two clans: al-Sakun and al-Sakasik.’”

Ahmad, al-Tabarani (20/89–90), and al-Bayhaqi (9/20) also narrated it. After attributing it to the first two, al-Haythami said (10/55): “Its narrators are trustworthy, except that Yazid ibn Qutayb did not hear from Muʿadh.”

I say: This assertion is based on the fact that he was only reported to have narrated from Abu Bahriyah; they did not mention that he narrated from Muʿadh—except Ibn Hibban, who included him among the Successors in his al-Thiqat (5/544), saying: “From Muʿadh; his kunya was Abu Bahriyah.” This is how it appears there. Perhaps his definite assertion that he narrated from Muʿadh was based on this narration of Ahmad. Allah knows best.

As for his statement, “His kunya was Abu Bahriyah,” this occurs in some copies of al-Thiqat, as its annotator mentioned. It apparently is incorrect, for Abu Bahriyah was the kunya of ʿAbd Allah ibn Qays, as stated in