Saʿīd informed us of it. It was also narrated by al-Tirmidhi (1573), al-Dārimī (2/262), al-Nasāʾī in al-Kubrā (5/232/8764), and Ibn Mājah (2412), through other routes from Saʿīd.

4 — Shuʿbah, from Qatādah, with this chain. It was narrated by Ibn Ḥibbān (1676), Aḥmad (5/281–282), Ibn al-Muẓaffar in Gharāʾib Shuʿbah (fol. 12/1), and Ibn ʿAsākir in Tārīkh Dimashq (2/18/1), through several routes from him.

5 — Abū ʿAwānah, from Qatādah, with this chain. It was narrated by al-Ḥākim (2/26) through the route of Abū al-Walīd al-Ṭayālisī and ʿAffān ibn Muslim from him; and by al-Bayhaqī (9/101–102) through another route from Abū al-Walīd alone. Al-Ḥākim said: “Authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs.” Al-Dhahabī agreed with him.

Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd differed from them in the chain, saying: “Abū ʿAwānah narrated to us...” and then cited it, without mentioning Maʿdān ibn Abī Ṭalḥah in it. Al-Tirmidhi narrated it (1572) and said: “Saʿīd’s narration is more sound”—that is, with respect to the chain—“because he added a man to it and gave it a connected chain; and Sālim did not hear from Thawbān.”

I say: There is no doubt that Saʿīd’s narration is more sound than this narration of Abū ʿAwānah, owing to the corroborating reports we have mentioned for it and because it agrees with the narrations of al-Ṭayālisī and ʿAffān from Abū ʿAwānah. Accordingly, Qutaybah’s narration from him is anomalous.