I say: This chain of transmission is very weak. This Abu Shaybah was Ibrahim ibn ʿUthman al-ʿAbsi, their client, from Kufah. Al-Bukhari said: “They remained silent concerning him.” Al-Nasaʾi and al-Dulabi said: “His hadith is abandoned.” Abu Hatim said: “His hadith is weak; they remained silent concerning him and abandoned his hadith.”

I then found another route for it, narrated by Abu Ismaʿil al-Muʾaddib, from al-Aʿmash, from Anas ibn Malik: a woman who was pregnant confessed to adultery four times. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to her: “Go back until you give birth.” Then she came back, and he said: “Go back until you wean the child.” She then returned and was stoned. They mentioned her, whereupon the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, cited it with the wording: “He would have been forgiven.”

Al-Bazzar narrated it in his Musnad (2/212/1541—al-Kashf), and Ibn ʿAdi in al-Kamil (1/249), through two routes from Abu Ismaʿil al-Muʾaddib. Both said: “Abu Ismaʿil al-Muʾaddib alone narrated it from al-Aʿmash.”

I say: His name was Ibrahim ibn Sulayman, and he was as Ibn ʿAdi said: “His hadith is good. He has many uncommon, good hadiths, which indicate that he was among those known for truthfulness; his hadith is to be recorded.”

I say: Thus, it is a strong supporting report, were it not for the break between Anas and al-Aʿmash. Al-Haythami said in Majmaʿ al-Zawaʾid (6/252):