I say: He was mistaken in two respects:

First, he faulted Muslim for not recording it, although Muslim did record it.

Second, he declared it authentic according to al-Bukhari’s criteria, whereas al-Bukhari did not rely on al-Miqdam or his father. *

Expiation for Burying Daughters Alive

3298—“Free a slave for each one of them.” He said, “I am a man who owns camels.” He said, “Then slaughter—for each one—a camel; or, in another narration, offer one as a sacrificial gift, if you wish.”

It was recorded by al-Bazzar (3/78/2280, Kashf al-Astar), al-Tabarani (18/333/863), al-Bayhaqi (8/116), Ibn Abi Hatim—as cited in Tafsir Ibn Kathir (4/478)—and Ibn Mandah—as cited in al-Isabah—all through ʿAbd al-Razzaq, who said: Isra’il informed us from Simak ibn Harb, from al-Nuʿman ibn Bashir, from ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab, concerning Allah’s saying: “And when the girl buried alive is asked,” who said:

Qays ibn ʿAsim came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and said, “Messenger of Allah, I buried [eight] of my daughters alive during the Jahiliyyah.” He replied: … and he then cited it.

Al-Bazzar said:

“We know of no narration from ʿUmar except by this route. No one transmitted it from him with a connected chain except ʿAbd al-Razzaq, from Isra’il. We heard it only from al-Husayn, and ʿAbd al-Razzaq has been contradicted in his chain of transmission from Isra’il.”

I say: Its narrators are trustworthy and are among Muslim’s narrators, apart from al-Husayn, al-Bazzar’s shaykh, who is Ibn Mahdi al-Ubulli. Ibn Hibban deemed him trustworthy (8/188), while Abu Hatim deemed him truthful (3/65/294). Ibn Khuzaymah and Ibn Hibban also included his narrations in their Sahih collections.