(3/90/2), through al-Thawri, from Ibn Khuthaym or from al-Ala—Abu Bakr was uncertain—from Abu al-Tufayl, who heard Ibn Abbas say it. I say: This is a sound chain of transmission, its narrators being trustworthy and among Muslim’s narrators, were it not for the uncertainty concerning al-Thawri’s teacher: was he Ibn Khuthaym—whose name was Abdullah ibn Uthman al-Makki, a truthful narrator included among Imam Muslim’s narrators—or was he al-Ala? Upon investigation, I found that al-Azraqi had also transmitted it through another route in Akhbar Makkah (p. 391). He said: Muhammad ibn Yahya narrated to me from Sulaym ibn Muslim, from Sufyan al-Thawri, from al-Ala ibn Abi al-Abbas, from Abu al-Tufayl, with the same report. This supports the view that the teacher was al-Ala ibn Abi al-Abbas, who was most trustworthy, as Ibn Ma'in said, according to Ibn Abi Hatim’s narration (3/1/356).

However, Sulaym ibn Muslim—al-Khashshab—was abandoned as a hadith narrator, as al-Nasa’i said. Ahmad said: “His hadith is worth nothing.” I say: A narrator such as this cannot be used to give preference to either possibility, so the uncertainty remains as it was. Yet it does not render the chain weak, since the uncertainty lies between two trustworthy narrators. At most, it prevents us from stating unreservedly that its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih. This is why al-Haythami said (3/286): “Al-Tabarani narrated it in al-Kabir, and its narrators are trustworthy.” This holds true whether the teacher was Ibn Khuthaym or al-Ala. Al-Mundhiri said in al-Targhib (2/133): “Al-Tabarani narrated it in al-Kabir; it is attributed to the Companion and has an authentic chain of transmission.”

Note: The Abu Bakr who was uncertain in the chain of transmission of this hadith was Abd al-Razzaq himself, the compiler of al-Musannaf. Most of it is transmitted from him through Abu Yaqub Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Dabari. I say this because I have seen some of his books transmitted from him through narrators other than al-Dabari. For instance, the Book of the People of the Book is