Perhaps another instance of this kind occurs at the beginning of the elder’s entry in Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, where he says:

“Muslim narrated from him a hadith concerning the multiplication of food at Umm Sulaym’s, and the other concerning the Prophet’s saying to Anas—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him—‘Seek me …’”

This gives the impression that Muslim also narrated the other hadith—the hadith of this entry—but this is not so. Were it not for the fact that, at the head of the entry, he had indicated that Muslim, al-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah narrated from him in the Book of Exegesis, it might have been possible to understand his words, “and the other,” as referring to al-Tirmidhi. However, his mention of Ibn Majah immediately afterward precludes this, except by an evident contrivance.

You should know that Shaykh al-Sahsawani of India cited this hadith in Protecting Man from Shaykh Dahlan’s Whisperings (p. 353) as evidence that seeking intercession from the Prophet—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him—during his lifetime is established. He then cited the hadiths of this type, beginning with this one, and, after mentioning al-Tirmidhi’s grading of it as sound, said: “I say: Its transmitters are transmitters of the Ṣaḥīḥ, and all of them are trustworthy except Harb ibn Maymun Abu al-Khattab, concerning whom there is disagreement. Al-Dhahabi said in al-Mīzān …” He then cited his foregoing words, though in abridged form.

From this, his imitator—the author of the book Reaching the Reality of Tawassul—understood the hadith to be weak. Thus, after the hadith, he said (p. 320, second edition): “The hadith’s chain is not authentic, as will be explained.” The explanation he promised amounts to no more than his statement on the facing page, after he too mentioned al-Tirmidhi’s grading of it as sound: