the aforementioned source, where I explained in summary that pointing does not preclude moving: it simply is not explicit about moving, nor does it contradict it. Moreover, they have differed from those imams, as I established there. Whoever wishes to explore the matter further may refer to it.
But I now wish to emphasize the authenticity of Za’idah’s hadith through corroborating reports from narrators other than him—reports that will make clear to readers the error of those later scholars in declaring his hadith weak and opposing the imams. This is occasioned by my recently coming across a treatise by a student associated with this discipline, entitled The Sound Methodology for Assessing Noble Prophetic Hadith, written by ‘Adil Murshid. In it, he states that he is a student of Shaykh Shu‘ayb al-Arna’ut. It appears to me that, if the treatise was not authored by the Shaykh himself, it was most likely dictated by him to its author.
What concerns me here is that he cites this hadith of Za’idah as one of four alleged examples of an anomalous hadith. In doing so, he merely imitates those later scholars to whom I have already referred. He has contributed nothing new except to expose his own ignorance and show that he is unqualified to venture into discussion of such a grave matter. So we seek refuge in Allah Most High from self-conceit, vanity, and love of prominence, for they break one’s back. Here is the clarification:
The man named eleven narrators among the students of ‘Asim ibn Kulayb, setting their narrations against Za’idah’s report (1). He cited their sources from the books of the Sunnah, numbering them sequentially. Yet, if you consult those sources, you will find that he has misled readers with futile details concerning some of those he named, such as: “7—‘Abd Allah ibn Idris in Ibn Majah (912),” and “9—Abu ‘Awanah in al-Tabarani, 22/90.” These two cannot be grouped among those who differed from Za’idah’s narration, because neither of them mentioned the pointing at all. This indicates that they abbreviated the hadith, unlike those who