threefold inconsistency—grading the chain of transmission of a single narrator as weak, then good, then authentic—does not ordinarily occur except on the part of an annotator who is not well grounded in this field and is newly acquainted with it, or because more than one person, differing in their level of competence in this field and in its critical assessment, took turns annotating al-Ihsan. The latter is the more likely explanation. One consequence was that these contradictory judgments appeared in the edition of al-Mawarid in its hadiths. See, for example, hadiths nos. (96, 472, 880, and 2551).

Strangely, the narrator of hadith no. (472) from Ayyash had suffered confusion in his later years. I therefore included it among the material for my book Da'if al-Mawarid, which, along with its companion Sahih al-Mawarid, is currently in press. May Allah facilitate their publication soon, if Allah Most High wills.

As for the differing evaluations of the narrator, it is sufficient to note what al-Dhahabi mentioned in his comment, including Abu Hatim’s statement, in full: “He is not firm; he is truthful, and his hadith may be recorded. He is close to Ibn Lahi'ah.” Ibn Hibban included him in al-Thiqat (7/51 and 8/334).

Also among these statements is al-Dhahabi’s previously cited assertion: “Muslim relied on him as proof.” He says likewise in his Siyar (7/334). Al-Hafiz, however, differed with him, stating in al-Taqrib: “Truthful, but he makes mistakes. Muslim included reports from him as corroborating evidence.” In al-Tahdhib, commenting on al-Mizzi, who had attributed reports from him to Muslim without qualification, he said: “Muslim’s hadith is among the corroborating reports, not among the principal narrations.”

I say: The hadith to which he refers is the hadith of Uqbah ibn Amir concerning a vow: “Let her walk and ride.” It is cited in al-Irwa (8/219) through the narration of al-Bukhari and Muslim from Yazid ibn Abi Habib, with his chain of transmission back to him. Abdullah ibn Ayyash corroborated Sa'id ibn Abi Ayyub in narrating from Yazid ibn Abi Habib in al-Bukhari (1866). But is this among the cases that