Shaykh Ahmad Shākir, may Allah have mercy on him, challenged this in his commentary on al-Musnad (6/117), saying: “We consider that ʿAbd al-Razzāq erred when he said, ‘from Sayyār Abū Ḥamzah’; the correct version is ‘from Sayyār Abū al-Ḥakam,’ contrary to what Imam Aḥmad deemed more likely here.”

We respond to this criticism in two ways. First, ʿAbd al-Razzāq was not alone in narrating it. Al-Ḥāfiẓ said in al-Tahdhīb: “ʿAbd al-Razzāq and others narrated it.” He seems to be referring to al-Muʿāfā ibn ʿImrān, for al-Dūlābī recorded it (1/159) through Yaḥyā ibn Mukhlad: “Al-Muʿāfā narrated to us from Sufyān with it,” its wording being: “with an imminent appointed term or provision at hand.” Al-Nasāʾī declared Yaḥyā ibn Mukhlad trustworthy, as al-Khaṭīb related in al-Tārīkh (14/207–208). Yet al-Ḥāfiẓ cited this narration of al-Muʿāfā, without attribution, with the wording: “Sayyār Abū al-Ḥakam.” I do not know whether this is a scribal corruption or whether it is the aforementioned narration of al-Dūlābī. The former is perhaps more likely, since al-Ḥāfiẓ cited it immediately after the narration of ʿAbd al-Razzāq. And Allah knows best.

Second, Imam Aḥmad was not alone in deeming Sayyār to be Abū Ḥamzah more likely; rather, a group of his contemporaries and others agreed with him. Thus, al-Tahdhīb relates from Abū Dāwūd that he said after the hadith: “He is Sayyār Abū Ḥamzah, but Bashīr used to say, ‘Sayyār Abū al-Ḥakam,’ and that is an error.” Al-Dāraquṭnī said: