As for Faḍālah ibn al-Mufaḍḍal, Ibn Abī Ḥātim (3 / 2 / 79) reported from his father: “He was not fit for knowledge to be recorded from him. I asked Saʿīd ibn ʿĪsā ibn Tulayd about him, and he dissuaded me from him, saying: ‘The hadith that he relates is fabricated,’ or words to that effect.”

Be aware that the scholars have differed concerning this hadith of Ibn ʿUkaym, both in terms of its transmission and its legal interpretation. As for its transmission, some have deemed it defective on account of mursal transmission and inconsistency. This objection is refuted, for even if it is conceded with respect to some of its routes, it cannot be conceded with respect to others, as I explained in the source mentioned above. For this reason, some of the early scholars considered it strong, among them Imam Aḥmad, may Allah Most High have mercy on him. His son Ṣāliḥ said in his Masāʾil (p. 160): “My father said: ‘Allah has forbidden carrion, and the skin is part of carrion. I follow the hadith of Ibn ʿUkaym, and I hope that it is authentic: Do not derive benefit from carrion, whether hide or sinew.’”

Aḥmad said: “I have no authentic hadith concerning the tanning of carrion, and the hadith of Ibn ʿUkaym is the most authentic of them!” Such was his statement, may Allah have mercy on him, although fifteen hadiths concerning tanning have been reported, which al-Shawkānī listed in Nayl al-Awṭār (1 / 54). Some of them are found in the two Ṣaḥīḥ collections, and their sources are documented in Ghāyat al-Marām (25–29).