And al-Dhahabi agreed with him.

I say: Saʿid ibn Salamah and Zuhayr ibn Muhammad differed over the attribution of this Salih: the former said, “Ibn Kaysan,” while the latter said, “Ibn Abi Salih.” Both were somewhat weak in terms of their retention, though Saʿid was in better condition than Zuhayr. Whether Saʿid’s report is the more probable one or Zuhayr’s, both men named Salih are trustworthy in hadith—especially Salih ibn Kaysan, who is relied upon in both Sahih collections. One indication that he is the intended narrator is that the scholars listed him, rather than the other, among those who narrated from ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Umamah. And Allah knows best.

I then found that al-Qudaʿi transmitted the hadith in Musnad al-Shihab (6/2/1) through Zuhayr’s chain, stating: from Salih ibn Kaysan. Thus, I became certain of what I had considered more probable, and it became clear that what appears in al-Mustadrak is an error by one of the narrators—unless it was al-Hakim himself.

Some narrators inserted a man between ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Umamah and his father. Muhammad ibn Ishaq thus narrated from ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Umamah, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Kaʿb ibn Malik, from Abu Umamah, who said: “The Companions of the Messenger of Allah once spoke in his presence about worldly life, whereupon the Messenger of Allah said:

“‘Will you not listen? Will you not listen? Austere simplicity is part of faith; austere simplicity is part of faith’—meaning, going unkempt.”

Abu Dawud transmitted it (4161).

I say: Ibn Ishaq practised tadlis, and he narrated it using an ambiguous transmission formula.

However, he was corroborated: Ismaʿil ibn ʿAyyash narrated it from ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ibn ʿUbayd Allah, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUbayd Allah ibn Hakim ibn Hizam, that Abu al-Munib ibn Abi Umamah—that is, ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Umamah—informed him that he met ʿAbd Allah ibn Kaʿb ibn Malik, who said: “Your father narrated to me,” and then cited it. Al-Tabarani transmitted it.

Then both he and al-Tahawi, in Mushkil al-Athar (1/478 and 4/151), transmitted through the chain of