Then this is one of his errors, in my view, for two reasons:

First, he had not come across al-Bazzar’s narration, which explicitly states that Ashʿath was Ibn Suwar, who—given his weakness—is not among the narrators of the Sahih.

Second, he imagined that this Ashʿath was Ibn Abi al-Shaʿtha’. They have listed the latter among the narrators from Kardus al-Thaʿlabi, but among the four who narrated this hadith from Ashʿath, there is not one who narrated from Ibn Abi al-Shaʿtha’. It is therefore established that he was not Ibn Abi al-Shaʿtha’, but Ibn Suwar.

The hadith has a supporting report by which it is strengthened. It is narrated by Asbat ibn Nasr, from al-Suddi, from Abu Saʿd al-Azdi—who was the Qur’an reciter of Azd—from Abu al-Kanud, from Khabbab, concerning Allah’s saying: “Do not dismiss those who call upon their Lord morning and evening,” up to His saying, “and thus become one of the wrongdoers.” He said:

Al-Aqraʿ ibn Habis al-Tamimi and ʿUyaynah ibn Hisn al-Fazari came and found the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, sitting with Suhayb, Bilal, ʿAmmar, and Khabbab, along with a group of poor believers. When they saw them around the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, they looked down on them. So they came to him and spoke with him in private, saying: ... and he then related a hadith similar to it, with an additional detail.

It was recorded by Ibn Majah (4127), Ibn Jarir (7/127), and Ibn Abi Shaybah in al-Musannaf (12/207–208).

Ibn Abi Hatim also narrated it through this route, as cited in the Tafsir of al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir, who said (2/135):

“This is a singular hadith, for this verse is Makkan, whereas al-Aqraʿ ibn Habis and ʿUyaynah embraced Islam only long after the Hijrah.”

I say: It appears that the error came from Asbat ibn Nasr. Although he was truthful and among Muslim’s narrators, he made many mistakes and often narrated singular reports, as al-Hafiz stated in al-Taqrib.