“We entered upon Ali ibn Abi Talib on the day of Eid al-Adha, and he served us a thick meat-and-flour porridge. We said, ‘O Commander of the Believers, if only you would serve us some of these ducks and geese, for there is plenty of good food.’ He said, ‘O Ibn Zurayr, I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him,’” and he then mentioned it.

Ahmad reported it (no. 1/78), and Ibn Asakir reported it from him (12/188/1), through two other chains from Ibn Lahi'ah, with the same chain of transmission.

Ibn Asakir also reported it through Harmalah, from Ibn Wahb, with the same chain, as a report attributed to Ali.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission; all its narrators are trustworthy. Ibn Lahi'ah is only to be feared on account of his poor memory when the hadith is not narrated from him by one of the Abadilah—the transmitters named Abdullah—as some of the early imams explicitly stated. This report, as you can see, is narrated from him by Abdullah ibn Wahb.

Concerning this hadith, al-Haythami said in Majma' al-Zawa'id (5/231):

“Ahmad reported it, and its chain includes Ibn Lahi'ah. His narrations are good, though he has some weakness.”

I say: The correct view is that he is weak in hadith when his reports are not narrated by the Abadilah; but his hadith is authentic when narrated by one of them, as mentioned above. Al-Hafiz said in al-Taqrib:

“Truthful; he became confused after his books were burned. The narrations of Ibn al-Mubarak and Ibn Wahb from him are more accurate than those of others. Muslim included a few of his reports alongside those of other narrators.”

363 — “There are four whom Allah, exalted is He, hates: the seller who frequently swears oaths, the arrogant poor man, the elderly fornicator, and the unjust ruler.”

Al-Nasa'i (1/359) and Ibn Hibban (1098) reported it through the chain of Hammad ibn Salamah, from Ubaydullah ibn Umar, from Sa'id al-Maqburi, from Abu Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said it.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission according to Muslim’s conditions.