“He is unknown; Yaʿla ibn ʿAta alone narrated from him.” Al-Hafiz said in al-Taqrib: “Acceptable.”

I say: That is, when corroborated, as he explicitly states in the introduction; and he has indeed been corroborated, as will follow. Al-Dhahabi said of him in al-Kashif: “Declared trustworthy!”

I say: This indicates that Ibn Hibban declared him trustworthy, but his declaring him trustworthy here cannot be relied upon, because he declares trustworthy those who are unknown. This is an elegant convention of his that I have come to recognize in this book. It should therefore not be understood to mean that al-Dhahabi himself considered him trustworthy, as some beginners in this field imagine.

Ibn Hibban listed him among the Followers in his Thiqāt (5/496), solely on the basis of Yaʿla’s narration from him. He also related the previously mentioned disagreement concerning Adas, saying: “I hope that the correct form is with an h.” He also recorded another hadith from Abu Razin concerning the Vision, which is cited in al-Zilal (459), but did not record this hadith. This is remarkable on his part, for he differed from the majority despite its meeting his criterion. What I most fear is that what deterred him from recording it was its explicit affirmation of the attribute of laughter for Allah Most High, such that it cannot be subjected to figurative reinterpretation—as he did with the hadith, “Allah laughs at two men, one of whom kills the other, yet both enter Paradise.” I have seen him give it a strained and ugly figurative reinterpretation, contrary to the way of the Salaf: affirmation together with transcendence. See his remarks, if you wish,