“Abu Sufyan’s hadith from Jabir is not authentic, since it is from a written record; and al-Aʿmash’s narration of it is deemed weak by them.” Al-Bayhaqi therefore said after the hadith:

“This hadith is authentic according to Muslim’s criteria, though not according to al-Bukhari’s; for al-Bukhari does not rely on Abu al-Zubayr’s narration—that is, the aforementioned narration of Maʿqil—nor on this narration of Abu Sufyan. Perhaps Muslim omitted it from al-Sahih only because Wakiʿ ibn al-Jarrah narrated it from al-Aʿmash, who said: ‘Jabir ibn ʿAbd Allah said,’ and then related it. He then said: ‘Al-Aʿmash said: I think Abu Sufyan mentioned it (1).’ Thus, al-Aʿmash was uncertain whether the hadith had a connected chain, and Abu Sufyan’s narration consequently became weak. Some scholars understood it to refer to a cat that has become feral and cannot be handed over. Others claimed that this was at the beginning of Islam, when the cat was considered impure; then, once the water left over from its drinking was ruled pure, its price became lawful. Neither of these two views has any clear evidence. And Allah knows best.”

The third route is likewise narrated by Ibn Lahiʿah, from Khayr ibn Nuʿaym, from ʿAta’, from Jabir: that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, forbade the price of a dog and forbade the price of a cat. Ahmad recorded it (3/339): Ishaq ibn ʿIsa narrated to us; Ibn Lahiʿah narrated to us.

I say: Its narrators are trustworthy and are among Muslim’s narrators, apart from Ibn Lahiʿah, who had poor retention and is used for corroboration. However, ʿAbd Allah ibn Ahmad mentioned from his father in al-ʿIlal (1/237/1490) that Ishaq ibn ʿIsa met Ibn Lahiʿah before his books were burned. Accordingly, the chain is good. He was corroborated by Haywah ibn Shurayh: Khayr ibn Nuʿaym al-Hadrami informed us.