in emending texts without knowledge: he altered al-Haythamī’s wording—which read, as he noted in the footnote, “Yaʿqūb ḥadd al-ʿAlāʾ”—into: “Yaʿqūb ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ṭalḥāʾ.” Thus arose the aforementioned perplexity. The correct reading is what the original had: “Yaʿqūb, grandfather of al-ʿAlāʾ.” This is perfectly clear wording. The word he read as ḥadd confused the aforementioned emender, but there is no ambiguity: it is jadd, with a jīm, meaning “grandfather.” Yet scribes frequently leave this letter undotted, so he did not recognize it. He then went searching in the biographical works and found among them “Yaʿqūb ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ṭalḥāʾ,” which he arbitrarily put in place of what the original had, “Yaʿqūb, grandfather of al-ʿAlāʾ,” without any proof or evidence.

Yaʿqūb, the grandfather of al-ʿAlāʾ, is given a biographical notice in al-Tahdhīb as follows: “Yaʿqūb al-Madanī, client of al-Ḥuraqah, grandfather of al-ʿAlāʾ ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yaʿqūb. He narrated from ʿUmar and Ḥudhayfah; and his son ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and al-Walīd ibn Abī al-Walīd narrated from him.” No declaration of his trustworthiness is mentioned there. Yet the general wording of al-Haythamī’s statement cited above also indicates that he is trustworthy. Perhaps he is included in Ibn Ḥibbān’s Thiqāt. This should be verified.

Although the aforementioned al-Jumaḥī is unknown to us, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Lahīʿah differs from him in the chain of transmission, saying: from al-Walīd ibn Abī al-Walīd, from al-ʿAlāʾ ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from his father, that he heard Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān … and then he cited it. Ibn Lahīʿah’s hadith is authentic when one of the ʿAbādilah narrates from him, and this is such a case, for it is Ibn Wahb’s narration from him, as I traced it there; thus, there is no need to repeat it.

I only traced it again here through the first route in order to ascertain the matter concerning its chain of transmission, after Allah—Exalted is He—enabled me to locate it. In this way, facts that had been concealed from us became clear, as I explained above. To Allah belong all praise and favour.