al-Ahmar related to us: Shuʿbah related from Yazid ibn Khumayr, from Habib ibn ʿUbayd, from ʿAwf ibn Malik, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “...” Then he mentioned it.

I say: Al-Haythami also said—and the printed edition (4/119) has omitted his attribution of it to al-Tabarani:

“In its chain is al-Husayn ibn ʿAbd al-Awwal, and he is weak.”

I say: There is disagreement concerning him. In al-Mizan and al-Lisan, it states:

“Abu Zurʿah said: ‘I do not narrate from him.’ Abu Hatim said: ‘The people have spoken about him.’ Ibn Maʿin declared him a liar. Abu Zurʿah also said: ‘He narrated hadiths; I do not know what they are.’ Ibn Hibban listed him in al-Thiqat.” (8/187)

Then al-Hafiz mentioned a rejected hadith of his transmission, from Abu Muʿawiyah, from ʿUthman ibn Waqid, from Musa ibn Yasar, from Abu Hurayrah, who attributed it to the Prophet:

“Indeed, the seven heavens and the seven earths curse the elderly adulteress and the elderly adulterer.” (1)

I say: Assigning the blame for this hadith’s defect to al-Husayn ibn ʿAbd al-Awwal is no more warranted than assigning it to ʿUthman ibn Waqid, for he, too, is weak. Al-Dhahabi said in al-Mughni:

“He was declared trustworthy, but Abu Dawud deemed him weak.”

Moreover, even if we assume that Husayn is the hidden defect, this does not necessitate declaring him categorically weak, for no one is free of error, as is well known to the people of knowledge. Perhaps this hadith was the reason Ibn Maʿin accused him of lying; that may have resulted from the strictness for which he was known. I say this because I found attestations to this man’s reliability—which al-Hafiz did not mention—that have led me not to attach weight—