“Abu Hamzah was Ishaq ibn al-Rabi‘, who narrated from al-Hasan; he was a Basran.” In al-Dhahabi’s al-Muqtanā (26/1), it states: “Abu Hamzah al-‘Attar was Ishaq ibn al-Rabi‘.” He is included among the narrators of al-Tahdhib. In al-Taqrib, it says: “Ishaq ibn al-Rabi‘ al-Basri al-Ubulli—beginning with a u-vowel on the hamzah and the ba’, and with a doubled lam—Abu Hamzah al-‘Attar: truthful, though he was criticized for his views concerning divine decree; of the seventh generation.”

In short, in addition to being mursal, this report contains a weakness that does not undermine the preceding report with a continuous chain. Rather, its defect is the ambiguous “from” formula, as we have mentioned. I cited this mursal report only in order to give preference to the wording “knowledge” over the wording “injustice.”

I have also found a corroborating report in the hadith of Sayyar, from ‘Abd Allah ibn Mas‘ud, from the Prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him: “Before the Hour, greetings will be restricted to particular people; trade will become widespread, until a woman assists her husband in his trade; ties of kinship will be severed; false testimony will be given; truthful testimony will be concealed; and writing will become widespread.”

Al-Bukhari narrated it in al-Adab al-Mufrad (1049), and Ahmad (1/407), through an authentic chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy and are among Muslim’s narrators, apart from Sayyar. He is Sayyar Abu al-Hakam, as identified in al-Bukhari’s narration, and likewise by al-Tahawi in Mushkil al-Athar (4/385), by Ahmad in one narration (1/419), and in al-Hakim’s narration of this hadith, somewhat abridged, in al-Mustadrak (4/445). In another hadith recorded by Ahmad (1/389), he is deemed trustworthy and is among the narrators of both al-Bukhari and Muslim. Yet it was said that he was Sayyar Abu Hamzah, and al-Hafiz preferred this view in al-Tahdhib. Shaykh Ahmad Shakir rejected it in his notes on al-Musnad (5/257–258), claiming that no biographical notice could be found for this Abu Hamzah, although he is included among the narrators of al-Tahdhib, where he is mentioned immediately after—