This Muhammad ibn Yazid was Abu Hashim al-Rifaʿi, who was deemed weak by al-Bukhari and others.

As for the chain of transmission, ʿAli ibn al-Madini differed from them, saying: “Muhammad ibn Fudayl narrated to us: al-Aʿmash narrated to us from Habib ibn Abi Thabit, from Saʿid ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman, with this report attributed to the Prophet.” Thus, he did not mention Dharr in its chain of transmission. Al-Tahawi recorded it in Mushkil al-Athar (1/398). Ibn al-Madini was a trustworthy, exceptionally precise authority and one of al-Bukhari’s teachers. It therefore appears that Ibn Abi Thabit was the one who omitted Dharr and concealed this in transmission, as demonstrated by Shuʿbah’s forthcoming narration. It was also narrated with such concealment by someone other than Ibn Fudayl: Ibn Abi Shaybah recorded in al-Musannaf (10/217): “Asbat narrated to us from al-Aʿmash, from Habib ibn Abi Thabit, from Saʿid, with this report,” except that he stopped it at Ubayy and did not attribute it to the Prophet. Al-Bukhari likewise narrated it in al-Adab al-Mufrad (no. 719) from Ibn Abi Shaybah.

However, he was contradicted in stopping it at Ubayy. ʿAbd Allah ibn Ahmad said in his Zawaʾid (5/123): “Abu Musa Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna narrated to me: Asbat ibn Muhammad al-Qurashi narrated to us with this report,” except that he attributed it to the Prophet, saying: “The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said,” and then cited it. Al-Nasaʾi likewise narrated it through this chain (520/933). Asbat was trustworthy and among the narrators used by both al-Bukhari and Muslim. Thus, the chain would be authentic both as a report attributed to the Prophet and as one attributed to a Companion, were it not for Ibn Abi Thabit’s concealment in transmission and his omission of Dharr.

Yet Jarir did affirm Dharr, saying: “From al-Aʿmash, from Habib, from Dharr, from Saʿid,” with this report; however, he did not attribute it to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, but stopped it at Ubayy. Al-Nasaʾi recorded it (521/936), and al-Tahawi narrated it through him.

In sum, the narrators differed concerning this report of al-Aʿmash from Habib: some attributed it to the Prophet, while others stopped it at a Companion; some mentioned Dharr in it, while others did not. Yet whoever considers our documentation here will see that most of them attributed it to the Prophet and mentioned Dharr,