“The apparent import of these imams’ statements is that his hadith transmission was sound at first, but that confusion later affected him in this regard. It follows that whatever is transmitted from him by discerning authorities—such as Yahya ibn Ma'in, al-Bukhari, Abu Zur'ah, and Abu Hatim—belongs to the sound portion of his hadith, whereas reports transmitted from him by other shaykhs should be treated with reserve …”

I say: Perhaps one of these discerning authorities was Uthman ibn Sa'id al-Darimi. In his biographical entry in al-Siyar (13/320), al-Dhahabi mentions that he acquired the knowledge of hadith and its hidden defects from Ali, Yahya, and Ahmad; that he surpassed the scholars of his time; and that, at the beginning of his biography, he described him as “the imam, the eminent scholar, the hadith master, the critic …”

Yet the status of al-Hakim’s shaykh, Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Salamah al-'Anazi, remains to be considered. I have found no biographical notice for him, although al-Hakim’s authentication of this hadith apparently indicates that he considered him trustworthy.

Al-Dhahabi mentioned him among those who narrated from al-Darimi, but did not name his grandfather; moreover, he gave his tribal affiliation as al-'Anbari rather than al-'Anazi. Thus, at the very least, he is a narrator whose reports may be used as corroborating evidence. And Allah knows best.

As for the corroborating report, Yahya ibn Hamzah narrated to us: al-Awza'i narrated from Nafi'—while Abu al-Nadr said: from someone who narrated to him from Nafi'—from Ibn Umar that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“The people of the earth will migrate, migration after migration …”

the hadith.

It was transmitted by al-Bayhaqi in The Names and Attributes (p. 464) and by Ibn 'Asakir (1/151), through Abu al-Nadr Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Yazid and Hisham ibn 'Ammar, both of whom said: Yahya ibn Hamzah narrated it to us with this chain.