Abū al-Qāsim al-Aṣbahānī related it in al-Ḥujjah fī Bayān al-Maḥajjah (fol. 58/1) through ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ibrāhīm al-Muqriʾ: “Abū Masʿūd informed us ...,” and so on. I say: With this wording, it is anomalous or rejected, and the error lies with Abū Masʿūd Aḥmad ibn al-Furāt. Although he was a trustworthy hadith master and one of Abū Dāwūd’s shaykhs, al-Ḥāfiẓ mentioned in al-Tahdhīb that Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mandah said in his Tārīkh: “Abū Masʿūd erred in hadiths and did not retract them.”

I say: This may be excused in view of his overall retention, but when he contradicts Imam Aḥmad, one cannot feel assured in citing his contradictory report as proof—particularly since Imam Aḥmad is supported by a group of trustworthy narrators who did not mention this rejected wording in the hadith, as will follow. It is quite likely that the error came from his narrator, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ibrāhīm al-Muqriʾ, for he is not known for trustworthiness and precision. Abū Nuʿaym mentioned him in Akhbār Aṣbahān (2/83), named his grandfather al-Ṣabbāḥ al-Muqriʾ, and cited three hadiths from him through three narrators, but mentioned neither any criticism nor accreditation of him, nor his date of death. Thus, it is more appropriate to attribute the error to him. And Allah knows best.

Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī was corroborated by a number of trustworthy narrators, none of whom mentioned that rejected wording. The first was ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak, whose narration contains the final and the third additions. Al-Bukhārī related it (8/580/4832 and 10/417/5987), as did al-Nasāʾī in al-Kubrā. The second was Ḥātim ibn Ismāʿīl, whose narration contains the final addition. Al-Bukhārī related it (4831), as did Muslim (8/7).