and al-Hakim (4/147), through the route of Saʿid ibn Abi Maryam, who said: ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ibn Muhammad al-Darawardi informed us; Dawud ibn Salih informed us, from Salim ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar, from his father: Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab, and some of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, sat together after the Messenger of Allah’s death and discussed the gravest major sins. They had no knowledge by which to reach a conclusion on the matter, so they sent me to ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAs to ask him about it. He told me: “The gravest of the major sins is drinking wine.” I came back and informed them, but they objected to this, and they all rushed to him—until they came to him at his home. He then told them that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said—and he then cited it.

Al-Tabarani said: “It is not narrated from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr, except through this chain of transmission; al-Darawardi alone narrated it.” Al-Hakim said—and the additional material is his—“Authentic according to Muslim’s conditions!” This is what he said, though it contains the issue that follows. Al-Mundhiri (3/184) said: “Al-Tabarani and al-Hakim narrated it through an authentic chain of transmission, and al-Hakim said: ‘Authentic according to Muslim’s conditions.’”

I say: No; rather, it is authentic only, for Dawud ibn Salih is not among Muslim’s narrators at all. Hence al-Haythami (5/68) said: “Al-Tabarani narrated it in al-Awsat, and its narrators are those of the Sahih, except Salih ibn Dawud al-Tammar, who is trustworthy.”

The first story has also been narrated concerning a woman and a devout worshipper, whom she gave the choice of killing a boy, committing adultery, or drinking wine. He drank the wine, committed adultery, and killed the boy. It has been narrated as attributed to the Prophet and as attributed to a Companion; the latter is what is preserved, as I explained in my commentary on al-Ahadith al-Mukhtarah (320 and 349–350).