al-Daraqutni said: “It has been narrated both as attributed to the Prophet and as attributed to the Companion, and the latter is more sound.”

I say: There is clear cause to question Ibn al-Qattan’s unqualified declaration that Ibn Sabiq was weak, for no one before him held this view except Ibn Maʿin. Al-ʿIjli deemed him trustworthy, and Yaʿqub ibn Shaybah said: “He was a shaykh, truthful and trustworthy, though not one described as possessing precision in hadith.” Al-Nasaʾi said: “There is no harm in him.” Abu Hatim said: “His hadith may be recorded, but not used as proof.”

I say: At the very least, a narrator of his standing produces good hadith, since the criticism of him is unexplained. Moreover, the two Shaykhs relied upon him. Al-Dhahabi said of him: “In my view, he is trustworthy.”

In al-Taqrib, al-Hafiz said: “Truthful.”

Al-Khatib related from Ibn Abi Shaybah that, when he mentioned this hadith of Muhammad ibn Sabiq, he said: “If he retained it accurately, then it is a singular hadith.”

It is related from ʿAli ibn al-Madini that he said: “This is a rejected hadith from Ibrahim, from ʿAlqamah. Rather, it is from the hadith of Abu Waʾil, not from the hadith of al-Aʿmash.”

Al-Khatib said: “I say: Layth ibn Abi Sulaym narrated it from Zubayd al-Yami, from Abu Waʾil, from ʿAbdullah, except that he attributed it to the Companion and did not attribute it to the Prophet. Ishaq ibn Ziyad al-ʿAttar al-Kufi—who was truthful—also narrated it from Israʾil”