Al-Tahawi declared it weak, saying:

“Mandal is not one given to precision. As for Layth, although he was a man of virtue, his narrations are not considered strong by the scholars.”

I say: Mandal was corroborated by Huraym, who is trustworthy and one of the narrators relied upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim. Thus Mandal is cleared of responsibility, and the defect is confined to Layth, who is weak.

Al-Hafiz said in al-Taqrib:

“Truthful, but became confused in his later years; and since his hadith could not be distinguished, it was abandoned.”

Once this is known, it is not permissible to set the hadith under discussion against this flimsy hadith, as some who are ignorant of the transmitted reports have done, as mentioned by Imam al-Tahawi, may Allah the Exalted have mercy on him.

349 — “No man who is entrusted with authority over ten people or more will come before Allah, exalted is He, on the Day of Resurrection except with his hand shackled to his neck. His righteousness will free him, or his sin will destroy him. Its beginning is blame, its middle is remorse, and its end is disgrace on the Day of Resurrection.”

Ahmad (5/267) narrated it: Abu al-Yaman narrated to us; Isma'il ibn Ayyash narrated to us, from Yazid ibn Abi Malik, from Luqman ibn Amir, from Abu Umamah, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who said it.

I say: This is a sound Syrian chain of transmission. All its narrators are trustworthy. There is some criticism concerning Yazid—namely, Yazid ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Malik, the Damascene judge—but it does not lower his hadith below the rank of good. Al-Hafiz said of him in al-Taqrib: “Truthful; he sometimes erred.”

Al-Haythami said concerning the hadith (5/205):

“Ahmad and al-Tabarani narrated it. It contains Yazid ibn Abi Malik, whom Ibn Hibban and others declared trustworthy, while the rest...”