And Ibn Mardawayh also reported it in Three Sessions (188/1–2), through several chains from Yaʿlā ibn ʿUbayd: “Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid narrated to us from [ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr] and Zubayd al-Ayyāmī, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, in a report attributed to the Prophet.” The additional wording is Ibn Mardawayh’s.

I say: This is a chain of transmission all of whose narrators are trustworthy transmitters used by al-Bukhārī and Muslim, but it is interrupted by both routes. As for Zubayd, he certainly did not live to meet Ibn Masʿūd, for he died in (122 AH), while Ibn Masʿūd died in (32 AH). As for ʿAbd al-Malik, he was born in the year Ibn Masʿūd died, or a year later.

Al-Ḥākim also reported it (2/4) through Saʿīd ibn Abī Hilāl, from Saʿīd ibn Abī Umayyah al-Thaqafī, from Yūnus ibn Bukayr, from Ibn Masʿūd, in a report attributed to the Prophet with the same wording. This is an obscure chain of transmission. Ibn Abī Ḥātim listed Saʿīd ibn Abī Umayyah (2/1/5), saying: “Saʿīd ibn Abī Umayyah ibn ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ: he narrated from Abū Umāmah al-Bāhilī, and ʿAnbasah ibn Abān al-Qurashī narrated from him.” He mentioned no criticism or commendation concerning him.

Its editor commented: “I have not found this Saʿīd ibn Abī Umayyah. A biographical notice on Saʿīd ibn ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ will follow. The kunyah of ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd was Abū Umayyah, and he had a son named Umayyah. Allah knows best.”

As for his teacher, Yūnus ibn Bukayr, I think he was interpolated here by one of the copyists, for he belonged to a generation later than that of the Successors; he died in (199 AH). The hadith also has a corroborating report. Al-Shāfiʿī said (1/13, Arrangement of the Musnad and the Sunan):