Al-Hafiz said afterward in Mukhtasar al-Zawa'id (2/37):

“The correct version is Zakariyya’s narration.”

I say: The matter ought to have been as al-Hafiz stated, since Zakariyya was more reliable and had a stronger memory than Mujalid, were it not for two considerations:

First, he practised concealment in transmission, as al-Hafiz himself mentioned in al-Taqrib.

Second, Abdullah ibn Abi al-Safar contradicted him. He narrated: from Amir al-Sha'bi, from Abdullah ibn Muti' ibn al-Aswad, from his father, Muti', who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, when he ordered the killing of this group in Mecca, say: … Then he mentioned the hadith, whose wording is:

“Mecca shall never again be invaded after this year, and no man of Quraysh shall ever be killed after this year.”

It has been cited in the fifth volume of this Silsilah al-Sahihah, no. 2427.

I further add here: In a narration of Yahya ibn Sa'id and others, Zakariyya also agreed with Abdullah ibn Abi al-Safar. He narrated: “Amir related it to us likewise,” except that he did not mention its first clause.

It was recorded by Ibn Hibban (6/13/2710) and Ahmad (3/412 and 4/212).

I say: This verification makes two facts clear to us:

First, Zakariyya’s narration from al-Sha'bi, from al-Harith ibn al-Barsa', was an error on his part; the correct version is his narration that agrees with Abdullah ibn Abi al-Safar’s report from al-Sha'bi, from Abdullah ibn Muti', from his father.

Second, the text of his hadith—that is, Zakariyya’s, in both versions narrated from him—is not the text of the hadith under this heading, for it reads: