weak. This may explain why al-Ḍiyāʾ al-Maqdisī included the hadith in al-Mukhtārah, and why those imams to whom I referred earlier remained silent about it.

As for al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar, his statements concerning this hadith are astonishingly contradictory: at one point he strengthens it, and at another he declares it weak—in the very same place! In al-Fatḥ (9/594–595), he reports Imam al-Rāfiʿī’s view that the preferred course regarding the ʿaqīqah sacrifice is not to delay it until puberty; otherwise, it is no longer required of the one who intended to offer it on the child’s behalf. Yet if the person himself wishes to offer it on his own behalf, he may do so. Al-Ḥāfiẓ then commented: “It is as though he was indicating that the hadith which states, ‘The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, offered the ʿaqīqah sacrifice for himself after the advent of Prophethood,’ is not established; and that is indeed the case.”

He then cited it through the weak narration of al-Bazzār and said: “Abū al-Shaykh also transmitted it through two other routes. The first is through Ismāʿīl ibn Muslim, from Qatādah, from Anas. Ismāʿīl is also weak, so perhaps he appropriated it from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥarrar. The second is through Abū Bakr al-Mustamlī, from al-Haytham ibn Jamīl. Al-Haytham is trustworthy, and ʿAbd Allāh is among al-Bukhārī’s narrators. Thus, the hadith has a strong chain of transmission. Ibn Aʿyun transmitted it, as did al-Ṭabarānī in al-Awsaṭ. Were it not for the criticism concerning ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Muthannā, this hadith would be authentic.” He then mentioned the statements of the scholars who deemed him trustworthy and those who deemed him weak, and said: “He is one of those shaykhs whose solitary transmission of a hadith cannot be used as proof.”

I say: This general statement warrants scrutiny, as will become clear from our previous explanation of al-Bukhārī’s distinction between ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Muthannā’s reports from his uncle, which he used as proof, and his reports from others, which he treated