“Its chain of transmission is weak. Yūnus is Ibn Khabbāb. Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd said: ‘He was a liar …’” He then went on at length, citing the statements of the imams declaring this Yūnus weak. He further quoted Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid (10/171), where it says: “Al-Bazzār narrated it, and it contains Yūnus ibn Khabbāb, who is weak.”

I say: Al-Bazzār was correct, whereas the commentator referred to made a gross error and confused two narrators in an ugly manner: one of them trustworthy—namely, Yūnus ibn Yazīd al-Aylī, in Abū Yaʿlā’s chain of transmission—and the other extremely weak—namely, Yūnus ibn Khabbāb. This was merely because they shared the same name and belonged to the same generation, despite their shaykhs and those who narrated from them being different! In such cases, one must exercise deliberation and careful investigation concerning them, so as to be able to identify who they are; otherwise, one will inevitably fall into error, as happened to the commentator in question.

For al-Bazzār, may Allah have mercy on him, transmitted this hadith through chains containing Yūnus ibn Khabbāb, as found in Kashf al-Astār (4/51). One of them reads: Yūsuf ibn Mūsā narrated to us: Jarīr ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd narrated to us, from Layth, from Yūnus ibn Khabbāb, from Abū ʿAlqamah, from Abū Hurayrah, with it. Abū Nuʿaym also transmitted it through this route in Ṣifat al-Jannah (1/9/68), by another chain from Jarīr with it, except that it appears there as: “Abū Ḥāzim ibn Yūnus.” I believe that the words “ibn Yūnus” are an error on the part of the copyist or printer, for it appears correctly in Ḥādī al-Arwāḥ through the same route.

Moreover, Yūnus ibn Khabbāb’s narration “from Abū Ḥāzim” is not preserved from Yūnus. Apparently, it was among the confused narrations of Layth—namely, Ibn Abī Sulaym—who would at times narrate it in this manner and at other times from Abū ʿAlqamah, as in al-Bazzār’s narration. That is what is correct from Yūnus, since this is likewise how it appears in the aforementioned routes and chains of transmission found with al-Bazzār. It is further supported by another route recorded by al-Ṭayālisī in his Musnad. He said (2579): Shuʿbah narrated to us, from Yaʿlā ibn ʿAṭā