Al-Tabarani transmitted it in al-Mu‘jam al-Kabir (9/104/8532): “Ali ibn Abd al-Aziz narrated to us: Arim Abu al-Nu‘man narrated to us: Hammad ibn Zayd narrated to us ...”

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission; all its narrators are trustworthy. Hammad ibn Zayd heard from Ata ibn al-Sa’ib before his memory deteriorated. Nevertheless, al-Haythami also said (2/256):

“Al-Tabarani transmitted it in al-Mu‘jam al-Kabir, and its chain of transmission is good.”

Thus, he did not declare it authentic. Perhaps this was because Arim Abu al-Fadl—whose name was Muhammad ibn al-Fadl—had suffered memory deterioration or changed. Al-Hafiz said in al-Taqrib:

“Trustworthy and firmly established, though he changed toward the end of his life.”

Al-Dhahabi said in al-Kashif:

“... A memorizer, and al-Bukhari narrated from him ... He changed before his death, and thereafter did not narrate.”

And he said in al-Mizan:

“A memorizer, truthful, and prolific.”

He then cited some statements explicitly affirming that he had suffered memory deterioration, but mentioned that al-Daraqutni said:

“He changed late in life, but no rejected hadith of his appeared after his memory deteriorated; and he is trustworthy.”

By this he refuted Ibn Hibban, who claimed that many rejected narrations had occurred in his hadith. Al-Dhahabi said:

“I say: Ibn Hibban was unable to cite even one rejected hadith from him—so where is what he alleged?!”