Through this route, it was transmitted by Ibn Qāniʿ in Sahl’s biographical entry in al-Muʿjam; by al-Ṭabarānī in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (6/88/5551) and al-Awsaṭ (1/174/2/3230); and by al-Bayhaqī in Shuʿab al-Īmān (3/401/3884).

I say: This is a good chain of transmission, in light of what follows. Its transmitters are trustworthy and are among Muslim’s transmitters, except for ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ. Yet he was one of al-Bukhārī’s shaykhs, as you can see, and more than one scholar mentioned that al-Bukhārī narrated from him in his Ṣaḥīḥ, such as al-Mundhirī at the end of al-Targhīb (4/286), and al-Dhahabī in al-Kāshif. In al-Mughnī, he said:

“The correct view is that al-Bukhārī narrated from him in the Ṣaḥīḥ.”

Following al-Mundhirī, he also said:

“Acceptable in hadith, though he has objectionable narrations.”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ said in al-Taqrīb:

“Truthful, but frequently mistaken; dependable in his written material, though he was inattentive.”

He indicated that al-Bukhārī narrated from him in suspended form, and in his Tahdhīb—following its source—he mentioned that al-Bukhārī cited him as corroboration in the Ṣaḥīḥ. However, in the introduction to Fatḥ al-Bārī (pp. 414–415), he examined the hadiths which al-Bukhārī narrated from him in nine places in the Ṣaḥīḥ using the wording, “He narrated to us,” “He told me,” or the unqualified “He said.” It became clear that most of them were follow-up reports or corroborative citations, while only a few were relied upon as proof. And Allah knows best.

But after citing the statements of the imams concerning him, ranging from criticism to accreditation, he said:

“I say: The apparent import of these imams’ statements is that his hadith was sound at first, then he underwent a change—”