“He narrates from al-Aʿmash, and al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān narrated from him. He was among those who narrate from trustworthy transmitters reports that do not resemble the narrations of reliable authorities, and he alone narrated certain reports which any listener versed in hadith would judge to be inverted.”

I say: Regarding one against whom such severe criticism has been made, one cannot be confident in citing his report as evidence when he narrates alone—so how could one be when it conflicts with other reports? Even if some scholars, including Ibn Ḥibbān himself (7/56), declared him trustworthy, this is inconsistent. As for the wording cited in the heading, it is good in my view, if Allah Most High wills, because of the corroborating report mentioned by al-Ṭabarānī. All the transmitters in its chain are trustworthy narrators found in al-Bukhārī, apart from Aḥmad ibn Rushdayn. He is Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥajjāj ibn Rushdayn al-Miṣrī; some declared him trustworthy, while others accused him of lying! (1) The assessments made of him can be found in al-Mīzān and al-Lisān. From this, you may recognize al-Haythamī’s leniency in documenting al-Bazzār’s version when he said (10/392): “Al-Bazzār narrated it, and this is his wording; Aḥmad narrated it in abbreviated form; Abū Yaʿlā narrated something similar; and al-Ṭabarānī narrated it in al-Awsaṭ. One of al-Ṭabarānī’s two chains consists of narrators of the Ṣaḥīḥ.”

I say: He passed over al-Bazzār’s chain without comment, though he should not have done so. He also stated categorically that the transmitters in al-Ṭabarānī’s chain were narrators of the Ṣaḥīḥ, although you now know what is wrong with it. He and al-Mundhirī do this frequently!

Moreover, Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth narrated the hadith from Ashʿath ibn Sawwār, from Ashʿath, from Abū Saʿīd, with similar wording. Al-Bazzār recorded it and said: