“I say: al-‘Ijli declared him trustworthy. Abu Khaythamah said: Ibn Ma‘in was asked about the hadiths narrated by ‘Abd al-Malik from his father, from his grandfather, and replied: ‘They are weak.’”

I say: This sweeping judgment cannot be accepted without qualification, at least. For Ahmad and al-Tabarani cited, besides this hadith, two other hadiths from him: one concerning the instruction to command a child to pray at the age of seven, and the other concerning the prohibition of praying in camel enclosures. Al-Tabarani added a third, concerning the prohibition of temporary marriage. This latter hadith is found in Sahih Muslim through another chain from al-Rabi‘ ibn Sabrah, and it is the one to which al-Hafiz referred above. The hadith concerning camel enclosures has corroborating reports, some of which I have included in Sahih Abi Dawud (177). The hadith concerning the child likewise has corroborating reports; it is included in al-Irwa’ (247) and Sahih Abi Dawud (508), and a number of scholars deemed it authentic, including al-Tirmidhi, al-Hakim, Ibn Khuzaymah, al-Nawawi, and al-Dhahabi. So how can it be said that “his hadiths are weak”?!

Thus, only the hadith under discussion remains to be considered—the other aspect. At first glance, it may appear weak because of what has been said concerning this ‘Abd al-Malik. This was the view I held previously, so I included it in the other book under no. 2760. Then I became aware of two important facts. The first is that al-‘Ijli declared him trustworthy. Although, in my view, he was lenient in declaring narrators trustworthy—being, in this respect, like Ibn Hibban—this is reinforced by Ibn Khuzaymah, al-Hakim, and al-Dhahabi’s authentication of this hadith. Imam al-Nawawi endorsed their authentication in al-Majmu‘ (3/248–249). Moreover, all of them, along with al-Tirmidhi, authenticated the hadith concerning the child, as mentioned above. This plainly means that they regarded ‘Abd al-Malik as trustworthy.

The second is Imam al-Dhahabi’s explicit statement to that effect. He said in al-Mizan: “Truthful, Allah willing. Only Yahya ibn Ma‘in declared him weak.”