al-Daraqutni’s having deemed Fulayh mistaken, and would have concluded that the hadith is authentic and has a continuous chain to the Prophet. Rather than hesitating, he would have stated definitively that Abu Umamah sometimes transmitted it with a continuous chain, as in the version of al-Muntaqa—which he likewise did not mention. Praise be to Allah, by Whose favor righteous deeds are brought to completion.

Remarks:

First: Regarding Abu Umamah’s hadith from his father, Shaykh Abu al-Tayyib stated in his commentary on al-Daraqutni (3/100) that al-Nasa’i’s chain contains Abd al-A‘la ibn Amir. This is a sheer error, for al-Nasa’i contains only the previously mentioned route of Ishaq ibn Rashid. Al-Mizzi likewise mentioned no other route in al-Tuhfah.

Second: In the aforementioned commentary, Abu al-Tayyib attributed al-Hafiz’s preceding statement—“If all the routes have been accurately preserved ...”—to al-Tabarani! This too is an error, or poor retention; and upon reflection, the latter is more likely.

Third: In his annotations to Ibn al-Qayyim’s Ighathat al-Lahfan (2/114–115), the pseudo-scholar called Hassan Abd al-Mannan summarized al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar’s documentation of this hadith. Fourteen lines taken from the printed edition of his book were reduced by him to four lines—three of which merely list the reference numbers of the hadith’s locations in the seven sources to which al-Hafiz attributed it! A task no copyist would be incapable of! He then followed this with the words: “... through differing chains and routes from Abu Umamah ibn Sahl: some transmit it as a mursal report, while others connect it through more than one narrator. It is predominantly authentic. See Talkhis al-Habir (4/59).”

Despite its brevity, this contains ignorant errors:

First: His reference to al-Talkhis misleadingly suggests that al-Hafiz authenticated it, or that its authenticity may be inferred from it. This is not so. I have just cited for you his statement that the mursal version is correct, and in which he doubts that all the routes have been accurately preserved; and I have explained the objections that may be raised against it.