narration, for both of them reported from him:

“From Asmāʾ, who said: ‘I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.’”

Thus, they made the female narrator herself the one who asked the question. However, al-Ḥumaydī, in al-Bayhaqī’s narration, and Ibn Abī ʿUmar, in al-Tirmidhī’s, differed from them, reporting from Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah in accordance with the narration of the main body of transmitters. There is no doubt that this is the preserved version.

The narration of al-Shāfiʿī and Ibn ʿAwn is anomalous, because it contradicts the narration of the main body of transmitters from Hishām, as well as that of al-Ḥumaydī and Ibn Abī ʿUmar from Sufyān. For this reason, al-Nawawī correctly judged it weak, though he did not explicitly state the hidden defect, thereby giving an unintended impression. Al-Ḥāfiẓ therefore criticized him in al-Fatḥ, saying (1/264), after mentioning this narration of al-Shāfiʿī:

“Al-Nawawī was mistaken in declaring this narration weak without evidence. Its chain of transmission is authentic and has no hidden defect. Nor is it far-fetched that a narrator might forget his own name, as will come in the hadith of Abū Saʿīd concerning the healing recitation with Sūrat al-Fātiḥah.”

He also said in al-Talkhīṣ (13):

“Note: Al-Nawawī claimed in Sharḥ al-Muhadhdhab that al-Shāfiʿī narrated in al-Umm, with a weak chain of transmission, that Asmāʾ herself was the questioner. This is incorrect; rather, its chain is of the highest authenticity. It seems that al-Nawawī followed Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ in this. A group of those who commented on al-Muhadhdhab also claimed that he erred in saying that Asmāʾ was the questioner, whereas they are the ones who erred.”

I say: No; rather, they were correct, and al-Ḥāfiẓ was mistaken. The reason was his great confidence in al-Shāfiʿī’s precision—and he was indeed deserving of such confidence—but the narration of the main body of transmitters is more precise and better preserved. It may be said that the error was not al-Shāfiʿī’s, but rather Ibn ʿUyaynah’s himself, as evidenced by the fact that both versions are authentically reported from him: the one agreeing with the narration of the main body of transmitters and the one contradicting it. Al-Shāfiʿī and those with him transmitted the latter, whereas al-Ḥumaydī and those with him transmitted the narration of the main body. The latter was therefore more deserving of acceptance and more authentic, while the contrary version is defective due to being anomalous. Had al-Ḥāfiẓ, may Allah have mercy on him, collected the narrations from Hishām as we have done, he would not have objected