As for the three annotators of al-Targhib in their handsome new edition, they seized upon the aforementioned indication in order to give the impression that they possessed knowledge of this discipline, but thereby exposed their ignorance of it. They wrote:

“Among its narrators is Ja‘far ibn Sulayman al-Duba‘i, who alone narrated hadiths that have been deemed objectionable: Mizan al-I‘tidal (1/408).”

This is how they quoted from Mizan al-I‘tidal! It is a truncated quotation—perhaps unintentionally. They imagined that they had cited something supporting their weakening of the hadith. Yet this is one of the many proofs of their ignorance of this discipline and their amateur intrusion into it. What matters is whether a narrator is trustworthy or truthful; after that, it does not harm him that he may have reports which were criticized. A disparaging judgment is not established on this basis; rather, that is so only when his rejected reports are numerous, in which case one says of such a narrator that he narrates rejected hadiths. Ja‘far, however, was not like that. Remarkably, al-Dhahabi’s own words indicate and confirm this. For, after citing the statements of the imams concerning him, as though summing them up, he said:

“He is truthful in himself, but alone narrates hadiths that have come to be regarded as objectionable, and there is disagreement over whether they may be adduced as evidence; among them are …”

He then cited six hadiths and commented:

“Most of them are in Sahih Muslim …”

I say: Some of them are found there through Ja‘far, from Thabit, from Anas, including the hadith: “It has only recently come from its Lord.” It is referenced in al-Irwa (3/143/678) (1), and Mukhtasar