Abu Dawud (4895) and Ibn Majah (4214) also narrated from it the passage concerning humility; it has been traced previously under no. 570.

‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘A’idh corroborated Mutarrif; this is found in Abu ‘Awanah’s Musnad, as cited by al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar in Ithaf al-Maharah (12/635).

Hammam—the teacher of ‘Affan, who was Ahmad’s teacher in this hadith—said:

“One of Qatadah’s companions—I believe he said it was Yunus al-Iskaf—said to me: ‘Qatadah did not hear the hadith of ‘Iyad ibn Himar from Mutarrif.’ I said, ‘Yet he narrated it to us from Mutarrif, and you say that he did not hear it from Mutarrif?!’ Then a Bedouin came and began questioning him, pressing him boldly. So we said to the Bedouin, ‘Ask him: Did he hear the hadith of ‘Iyad ibn Himar from Mutarrif?’ He asked him, and he replied, ‘No. Four men narrated it to me from Mutarrif.’ He then named three—the ones I told you about.”

I say: Yunus al-Iskaf was Ibn Abi al-Furat, a trustworthy narrator. Al-Mizzi included his biography in Tahdhib al-Kamal (32/535–537).

Qatadah’s explicit statement that he narrated directly from Mutarrif came through Shu‘bah’s route from him, as recorded by Ahmad; and Shu‘bah has spared us concern over Qatadah’s concealment in transmission, as is authentically reported of him.

What appears likely—in reconciliation of these two accounts, and Allah knows best—is that Qatadah heard it from Mutarrif after previously not having heard it: he first received it through a lower chain, then through a higher one. Thus, in my view, the apparent contradiction is removed between the affirmation of hearing in the chain and its denial in the aforementioned conversation. The affirmative report takes precedence over the negative one, especially since al-Hasan corroborated him, as mentioned above; indeed, Mutarrif himself has a corroborating narrator, as previously noted.

And Allah knows best what is correct. *