Also among those of this generation is the following entry recorded by Ibn Ḥibbān in the fourth generation of al-Thiqāt (8/268): “Saʿīd ibn ʿAnbasah: he narrated from Ibn Idrīs and the Kūfans, and Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Būshanjī narrated from him. At times, he contradicted others.”

I say: It is possible that he is the Rāzī, and it is possible that he is someone else. This appears to be al-Ḥāfiẓ’s approach in al-Lisān. If he is someone else, then the chain is good. Allah knows best.

It is further strengthened by another route. Aḥmad said (6/138): Wakīʿ narrated to us from Ismāʿīl, from Muṣʿab ibn Isḥāq ibn Ṭalḥah, from ʿĀʾishah, with an abridged version bearing the wording: “It is surely made easy for me by my having seen the whiteness of ʿĀʾishah’s palm in Paradise.” This is a sound chain, were it not for the unknown status of this Muṣʿab. Ibn Abī Ḥātim mentioned him, as did Ibn Ḥibbān in al-Thiqāt, among the Successors (5/412) and the Followers of the Successors (7/478), solely through this Ismāʿīl’s narration from him—namely, Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid. Al-Ḥāfiẓ likewise included him in al-Taʿjīl, adding to the hadith, after attributing it to al-Musnad: “That is, death,” as his explanation of the words, “made easy for me.” It is possible that this appeared in his copy of al-Musnad, though that is unlikely, since it does not occur in Jāmiʿ al-Masānīd (37/104/3004). Allah knows best.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim cited the hadith in al-ʿIlal (2/375), through al-Muʿallā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, with his chain from ʿĀʾishah and with the wording of the heading. He said: “It is fabricated through this chain, and al-Muʿallā is abandoned in hadith.” His words, “through this chain,” seem to refer to the preceding chains. However, I consider the hadith good on account of the combined evidence of the two chains of Abū Ḥanīfah and Aḥmad. Allah knows best.