This was an error on the part of both of them, for ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Qirṭ is unknown, as stated in al-Taqrīb. Al-Dhahabī himself alluded to this in al-Mīzān, saying: “Humayd ibn Hilāl alone transmitted from him.”
Ṣāliḥ ibn Rustam was truthful but made many errors. Muslim included a narration from him as a corroborating report. Yet he was contradicted in its chain of transmission by the reliable narrator Sulaymān ibn al-Mughīrah, who said: “From Humayd ibn Hilāl, from Naṣr ibn ʿĀṣim al-Laythī, who said: We came to al-Yashkurī ...” the hadith. Thus, he placed Naṣr ibn ʿĀṣim in the position of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Qirṭ, and this is correct. It was recorded by Abū Dāwūd, Aḥmad, and others, and it is the route preceding this one.
The fifth: from Yazīd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Abū Khālid al-Dālānī, from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Maysarah, from Zayd ibn Wahb, from Ḥudhayfah, in abbreviated form. It includes: “A truce tainted by rancor, and a community containing impurities,” as well as the eighth addition and the words: “It is better for you, O Ḥudhayfah, to die biting down upon the trunk of a tree than to respond to any one of them.” Al-Ṭabarānī recorded it in al-Awsaṭ (1/202/2/3674) and said: “No one narrated it from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Maysarah except Abū Khālid al-Dālānī.”
I say: He was truthful but made many errors, and he practised concealment in transmission, as stated in al-Taqrīb. It is therefore possible that he erred in its chain of transmission, but not in its text, since it agrees with part of what occurs in the third route.
Unfamiliar terms in the hadith:
- “The sword”: that is, protection is attained through using the sword. Qatādah said: What is meant by this group are those who apostatized after the death of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, during the caliphate of al-Ṣiddīq, may Allah be pleased with him. This is mentioned