And Yazid ibn Aban was similarly regarded. Al-Hafiz said: “An ascetic, but weak.” For this reason, al-Hafiz stated definitively in al-Fath (3/297) that its chain of transmission is weak. I say: Yet it is strengthened by what follows.
The other chain is narrated by Ulayl ibn Ahmad al-Anazi: My father, Ahmad ibn Yazid ibn Ulayl, narrated to me: Asad ibn Musa informed us; Hammad ibn Salamah informed us, from Thabit al-Bunani, from Anas, traced back to the Prophet, with the wording cited above. It was recorded by al-Isfahani in al-Targhib (p. 271—Islamic University facsimile), and from him by al-Diya al-Maqdisi in al-Mukhtarah (2/34/2).
I say: This is a strong corroborating chain through Thabit al-Bunani, for he is trustworthy, as are the two narrators below him; all three are among the narrators treated in al-Tahdhib. However, I have found no biographical notice for Ahmad ibn Yazid ibn Ulayl apart from what the commentator on al-Qamus mentions under the root ʿ-l-l: that he was one of Ibn Khuzaymah’s teachers. As for his son, Ulayl, Ibn Hajar mentioned him in al-Tabsir (3/966), as did al-Hafiz Ibn Nasir al-Din in al-Tawdih (2/170/1), on account of his narrations from Harmalah and others. He died in 300 AH. Neither of them mentioned any narrator criticism or accreditation concerning him, but al-Ikmal (6/260) states: “He was trustworthy, and his written record was sound.”
- As for the hadith of Ibn Abbas, Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bazzah narrates it: Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Khunays narrated to us: Ibn Jurayj narrated to us, from Ata, from him, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, set out from Mina on the Day of Arafah. When his mount rose with him—and it bore a velvet cloth that had been bought for four dirhams—he uttered the words cited above.