with the same chain to Qatādah, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, the hadith: “The Prophet cursed effeminate men.” It has been documented in Jilbāb al-Marʾah al-Muslimah (154/3—al-Islāmiyyah), through the narration of al-Bukhārī and others.
Saʿīd was Ibn Abī ʿArūbah. He was corroborated by Maʿmar, from Qatādah, with the same report.
Al-Tirmidhī transmitted it (3849) through ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd; and this version appears in al-Muntakhab min al-Musnad (3/99/1192): ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us with the same report. Al-Tirmidhī said:
“A good, authentic hadith.”
The annotator of al-Muntakhab deemed it weak merely because Qatādah narrated it using an ambiguous “from” formula—paying no heed to the established practice of the six canonical collectors and others, including al-Bukhārī and Muslim, of citing such reports as evidence. Both accepted his use of this formula in numerous hadiths, and this is one of them, as I shall explain. This was because his concealment in transmission was infrequent in relation to his many hadiths, for he was among the leading hadith masters of proven precision. Al-Ḥāfiẓ alluded to this in the introduction to al-Fatḥ (p. 436), saying:
“An eminent Successor and one of the renowned, firmly reliable narrators. His memory was proverbial, though he occasionally practised concealment in transmission. All six canonical collectors relied upon him as evidence.”
Accordingly, in al-Taqrīb he confined himself to describing him as:
“Trustworthy and exceptionally precise.”
I say: The concealment in transmission of a narrator of his calibre is excused—and Allah knows best—especially when he uses an ambiguous “from” formula in narrating from someone from whom he heard extensively, such as Anas. Thus, his hadith from such a narrator should not be deemed defective unless the circumstances leave no room for such leniency and there is evidence confirming that he practised concealment.
I then found the hadith in al-Mustadrak (3/207), through another route from ʿAbd al-Razzāq, with the same report. He said: