There is another chain from Abū Hurayrah for the exception clause: Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated it from Abū al-Muhazzim, from him, who said: “The price of a dog was forbidden, except in the case of a hunting dog.” Al-Tirmidhī transmitted it (1281) and said: “It is not sound by this route. Abū al-Muhazzim’s name is Yazīd ibn Sufyān; Shuʿbah criticized him and declared him weak. A similar report has been narrated from Jābir from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, but its chain of transmission is not sound either.”

Abū al-Muhazzim is abandoned, as stated in al-Taqrīb, and so he cannot be cited as corroboration. In al-Talkhīṣ, he confined himself to saying of him (3/4): “He is weak.”

I say: Ḥammād ibn Salamah has another chain of transmission, which he narrates from Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir, attributing a similar report to the Prophet. This is the one to which al-Tirmidhī referred and which he declared weak. It is cited under the preceding authentic hadith, no. 2971, through al-Nasāʾī’s narration, and he also declared it weak. It is as al-Ḥāfiẓ said: “Its narrators are trustworthy,” yet it contains Abū al-Zubayr’s ambiguous “from” transmission, as you can see. There is disagreement over its chain as transmitted from Ḥammād: whether it is attributed to the Prophet, attributed to the Companion, or mursal. Al-Dāraquṭnī said: “The version attributed to the Companion is more sound.” I have found nothing to support this, particularly since al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Jaʿfar narrated it from Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir, attributing it to the Prophet. Al-Dāraquṭnī transmitted it (274), and al-Bayhaqī cited it in suspended form, saying: “Al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Jaʿfar is not strong.”