the two Shaykhs; except that al-Bukhari cited Sufyan ibn Husayn only in suspended form, as stated in al-Hafiz’s al-Taqrib, where he said: “Trustworthy, except in his narrations from al-Zuhri, by their consensus.”

I say: This narration is from someone other than al-Zuhri, as you can see. Thus, I do not know why al-Hafiz restricted himself to grading it only as good, when all the other narrators in the chain are trustworthy transmitters of the two Shaykhs, as mentioned above—and al-Hafiz himself declared all of them trustworthy in his al-Taqrib!

Al-Diya’ al-Maqdisi also recorded it in al-Ahadith al-Mukhtarah (58/189/2), through the route of Abu Nuʿaym and al-Tabarani.

A benefit: Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said: “The fraternization took place twice: once exclusively between the Emigrants, in Mecca; and once between the Emigrants and the Helpers.”

Among the proofs for the first fraternization is this authentic hadith, since al-Zubayr and Ibn Masʿud were both Emigrants, as is well known. It appears that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah have mercy on him—did not come across this hadith and similar reports; consequently, he denied this fraternization (11/99–100). Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar mentioned this and refuted him on the basis of this hadith and others; so consult it there.

Al-Haythami cited the hadith of Ibn ʿAbbas in al-Majmaʿ (8/171) and said:

“Al-Tabarani reported it in al-Awsat and al-Kabir, and the narrators of al-Awsat are trustworthy.”

I say: That is indeed what he said! It suggests that the chains of transmission in the two Muʿjams differ; otherwise, he would not have singled out al-Awsat, of the two, by declaring its narrators trustworthy. But this is not so, for in both of them he said: “Ahmad ibn Yahya al-Hulwani narrated to us: Saʿid ibn Sulayman narrated to us …”