As for the chain of transmission, Abū Muʿāwiyah said: “Al-Aʿmash narrated to us, from ʿAmr ibn Murrah, from Yaḥyā ibn al-Jazzār,” with this chain. Aḥmad and Abū Dāwūd transmitted it thus; al-Bayhaqī also transmitted it through Abū Dāwūd (9/350). Likewise, al-Baghawī transmitted it in Sharḥ al-Sunnah (12/156–157), through another route from Abū Muʿāwiyah, with this chain.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Bishr differed from him, stating in his chain: “from the son of Zaynab’s sister,” in place of “the son of Zaynab’s brother.” This is the version of Ibn Mājah. Muḥammad ibn Maslamah al-Kūfī differed from them both, replacing the son of Zaynab’s brother or sister with ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUtbah ibn Masʿūd. Al-Ḥākim transmitted it (4/417–418) and said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs.” Al-Dhahabī concurred with him. This was an error on both their parts, for Yaḥyā ibn al-Jazzār was not among al-Bukhārī’s narrators at all, and we have found no mention of Muḥammad ibn Maslamah al-Kūfī in the biographical works on narrators. Indeed, al-Mizzī did not mention him among the narrators from al-Aʿmash, nor among the teachers of Mūsā ibn Aʿyan, who narrated from him. So how could its chain meet the criteria of the two Shaykhs—indeed, how could it be authentic?

Rather, its chain is rejected, since it contradicts Abū Muʿāwiyah and ʿAbd Allah ibn Bishr, both of whom are trustworthy—though there is some disagreement concerning Ibn Bishr, which will be explained, Allah willing. There is another discrepancy in the chain: Fuḍayl ibn ʿAmr narrated from Yaḥyā ibn al-Jazzār, who said: “ʿAbd Allah entered upon a woman who had something tied around her neck. He pulled it and cut it off, then said ...” He then related the story in abbreviated form, along with the hadith under discussion.