- Al-Hakam, from Husayn, from Zayd ibn Wahb, from Hudhayfah.
It appears to me—and Allah knows best—that this discrepancy is a matter of variation in transmission, not contradiction, and that all of these reports are authentic and established from Zayd ibn Wahb. This is because all their narrators are trustworthy preservers, against whom no criticism or aspersion may be made; and because Zayd was a leading Successor and a mukhadram—one who had lived through both the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods. It is mentioned that he set out to travel to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, but the Prophet died while he was on the way. Moreover, he was an eminent and trustworthy narrator, to the extent that al-A‘mash, who narrated the first version from him, said: “When Zayd ibn Wahb reports to you from someone, it is as though you heard it from the person from whom he reports.”
He met a number of the senior Companions and narrated from them, including ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him. Thus, it is not unlikely that someone of his standing heard this hadith from the three Companions mentioned in those versions: ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Hasana; Thabit ibn Wada‘ah—at times directly from him, and at other times through al-Bara’; and Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman. It is often the case that a narrator with strong retention narrates through an intermediary from one of his shaykhs, then later has the opportunity to meet that shaykh and hear directly from him what he had previously heard from him through an intermediary. This is well known to those engaged in this noble field of knowledge.
In my view, affirming the soundness of all these versions is preferable to giving precedence to one version over another, since there is no basis for preferring one over the other even if contradiction is assumed. This is unlike al-Bukhari’s statement following the hadith: “Thabit’s hadith is sounder, though there is something to consider in the hadith itself. Ibn ‘Umar reported from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: ‘I neither eat it nor declare it unlawful.’”
I say: This hadith of Ibn ‘Umar is authentic, reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim, and Muslim narrated it