among the Companions, this al-Aswad was included; nor did they deny that he heard from him. Thus, this defect is not damaging.

The other defect is the weakness of ‘Ali ibn Zayd ibn Jud‘an. However, he was not alone in narrating it. Al-Tabarani said in his Mu‘jam (1/no. 844): “Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Hadrami narrated to us: Ma‘mar ibn Bakkar al-Sa‘di narrated to us: Ibrahim ibn Sa‘d narrated to us, from al-Zuhri, from ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakrah, with a similar version.”

I say: This is a chain of transmission whose narrators are trustworthy, except for Ma‘mar ibn Bakkar al-Sa‘di. Al-‘Uqayli said in al-Du‘afa’ (4/207):

“His hadith contain errors, and most of them are not corroborated.”

Ibn Abi Hatim mentioned him (4/1/259) without either criticism or accreditation. Ibn Hibban, however, included him in al-Thiqat (9/196). Al-Dhahabi said in al-Mizan:

“A shaykh of Mutayyin, somewhat acceptable.”

I say: What has preceded in his biographical notice indicates that he may be used as supporting evidence, especially when we recall that al-Hakim authenticated this hadith of his. He narrated it (3/615) through al-Hadrami—namely, Mutayyin—from him, and then said:

“An authentic hadith.”

But al-Dhahabi rebutted this, saying:

“I say: Ma‘mar has objectionable reports.”