And ʿAli ibn Muhammad contradicted him, reporting from Muhammad ibn Nuʿaym: “Ishaq ibn Mansur narrated to us,” through the same chain, but he added: “And I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: ‘until his uvula and molars become visible.’” Ibn Mandah recorded it after Ibn al-Akhram’s narration and said: “None of those mentioned earlier reported this.”

I say: He indicates that this addition is rejected, or at least anomalous, since ʿAli ibn Muhammad alone reported it. He is ʿAli ibn Muhammad ibn Nasr, concerning whom there is some weakness, as stated in Tarikh Baghdad (12/76) and al-Mizan—especially since he added something not reported by the hadith master Ibn al-Akhram. Our colleague, Dr. ʿAli ibn Muhammad Nasir al-Faqihi, noted in his annotations to al-Iman that this ʿAli ibn Muhammad ibn Nasr was alone in reporting this addition, as well as the weakness in him. However, he overlooked the fact that he was corroborated. Abu ʿAwanah (1/139) said: “ʿAbd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Ahmad, my brother, both narrated to me: Ishaq ibn Mansur narrated to us,” through the same chain, except that he said: “or his molars.”

I say: I do not know Ahmad, Abu ʿAwanah’s brother, but ʿAbd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal is trustworthy and well-known. Thus Ibn Nasr is cleared of responsibility for this addition, and it becomes clear that it is reliably transmitted from Ishaq ibn Mansur through the narration of ʿAbd Allah ibn Ahmad and his fellow narrator from him. Nevertheless, this does not give one confidence that it is reliably preserved in the hadith, for the following reasons:

First: Muslim narrated it from Ishaq without the addition, as mentioned above.

Second: Imam Ahmad and ʿUbayd Allah ibn Saʿid contradicted him, narrating it from Ruh ibn ʿUbadah without the addition, as noted earlier. Two men are more retentive than one, particularly when one of them is Ahmad, who was a mountain in memorization—especially since Ishaq agreed with them in Muslim’s narration from him.

Third: Even if we concede that Ishaq accurately retained it from Ruh ibn ʿUbadah and that it was not an error—