“Husayn ibn Hafs narrated this hadith from Sufyan in his al-Jami al-Kabir: from Muslim al-Juhani, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Layla, who said: ‘The Messenger of Allah ...’—a mursal report. Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi also narrated from al-Thawri, from Muslim al-Juhani, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Layla, from the Messenger of Allah.”

I say: This is an authentic mursal chain of transmission, since the two trustworthy narrators agree in reporting it from al-Thawri, from Muslim al-Juhani, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Layla.

Muslim was Ibn Salim al-Nahdi, Abu Farwah al-Asghar, the Kufan al-Juhani. He was trustworthy and was among the narrators used by al-Bukhari and Muslim.

Sufyan was corroborated in this report, for Abu Dawud said in al-Marasil (95/43): “Hafs ibn Umar narrated to us: Shu‘bah narrated to us, from Abu Farwah, with it.”

The annotator of al-Marasil supposed that this Abu Farwah was Urwah ibn al-Harith al-Hamdani, Abu Farwah al-Akbar. He too was trustworthy and among the narrators used by al-Bukhari and Muslim. He is excused in making this supposition, since he shared with Abu Farwah al-Asghar the narration from Ibn Abi Layla, as well as al-Thawri’s narration from him. But Ibn Abi Hatim’s version, which names Muslim al-Juhani, disclosed the identity of this Abu Farwah.

Moreover, Abu Yahya al-Himmani, who gave it a connected chain through al-Bara’, has been criticised on account of his memory. Nevertheless, he was among the narrators used by al-Bukhari and Muslim, and Ibn Ma‘in and others declared him trustworthy, while others deemed him weak. Al-Hafiz said in al-Taqrib:

“Truthful, but makes mistakes.”

For this reason, Abu Hatim gave preference to the mursal report over his connecting it through al-Bara’. However, it appears that he did not