Ibn Hibban transmitted it in al-Mawarid (1728).

Hafs ibn Ghiyath also corroborated Yazid, narrating it from Dawud ibn Abi Hind with the same chain. Al-Hakim transmitted it (2/142 and 4/366) and said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” Al-Dhahabi agreed with him.

Ali ibn Asim also corroborated him, narrating it from Dawud with the same chain, but differed in its wording. He said: “An Ansari man apostatized ...” and then related a similar hadith. At its end, he said: “His people wrote it down and sent it to him. When it was read to him, he said: ‘By Allah, my people have not lied to me about the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, nor has the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, lied about Allah. Allah is the most truthful of the three.’ He then returned repentant to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, who accepted that from him and let him go.”

I say: Ali ibn Asim was truthful, but he made errors and persisted in them, as stated in al-Taqrib. Therefore, neither a report uniquely transmitted by him nor one in which he contradicts others can be accepted.

However, he was corroborated. Ibn Jarir transmitted it through Hakim ibn Jami, from Ali ibn Mushir, from Dawud ibn Abi Hind, from Ikrimah, from Ibn Abbas, who said: “An Ansari man apostatized ...” and then mentioned a similar report.

This is how it appears there: he did not set out its wording, but merely referred to the preceding wording of Yazid ibn Zuray. Yet its opening portion is like the opening portion of Ali ibn Asim’s hadith, as you can see. Allah knows best whether it followed the latter—that is, the report of Asim—or the report of Ibn Zuray.

However, immediately afterward Ibn Jarir cited a supporting report for it through Abd al-Razzaq, who said: Jafar ibn Sulayman informed us; Humayd al-Araj informed us, from Mujahid, who said: