“This hadith—the hadith of Muʾammal—was mentioned to Abū ʿAbd Allāh (meaning Imam Aḥmad), and Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: ‘Ghundar only narrated to us from Shuʿbah, from Yaʿlā ibn ʿAṭāʾ, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who said: The likeness of the believer is that of a bee.’”

I say: This is how it appears in the copy of Ibn ʿAsākir: “From Yaʿlā ibn ʿAṭāʾ, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr.” I fear that something has been omitted from it. Ibn Abī Shaybah transmitted it in Book of Faith (no. 89—my edition), with the chain cited by Aḥmad, though differing from the version found there. He said: Ghundar narrated to us, from Shuʿbah, from Yaʿlā ibn ʿAṭāʾ, from his father, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, who said: “The likeness of the believer…” Thus he said, “from his father,” and did not attribute it to the Prophet; this is perhaps correct.

If this is established, then Imam Aḥmad is indicating that Muʾammal ibn Ismāʿīl erred in the chain of transmission of the hadith when he said, “from Wakīʿ ibn ʿAdas”; the correct wording is, “from his father,” as Ghundar stated, for he is more reliable than Muʾammal. He also erred in attributing it to the Prophet, because Ghundar attributed it to the Companion in Ibn Abī Shaybah’s version. Perhaps it is likewise in Ibn ʿAsākir’s version, but some copyists attributed it to the Prophet.

Yet it has been narrated as attributed to the Prophet through two other routes from Shuʿbah. Ibn al-Sammāk said in His Hadith (2/90/2): Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā narrated to us; Salām ibn Sulaymān narrated to us; Shuʿbah narrated to us, with Ghundar’s chain, attributing it to the Prophet.

This Salām—Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Madāʾinī, the blind man—was described by al-Ḥāfiẓ in al-Taqrīb as “weak.” However, Ḥajjāj ibn Nuṣayr corroborated him, saying: Shuʿbah informed us of it. Al-Quḍāʿī transmitted it in Musnad al-Shihāb (110/1).

Ḥajjāj too is weak. However, Ḥarmī ibn ʿUmārah ibn Abī Ḥafṣ corroborated him, saying: Shuʿbah informed us of it. Al-Bukhārī transmitted it in al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr (4/1/248/1058). And Ḥarmī