Al-Hafiz said in al-Fath:

“This was cited as evidence for Malik’s view that it is permissible to drink in a single breath. Ibn Abi Shaybah narrated the permissibility of this from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib and a group of others. Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz said:

‘The prohibition applies only to breathing inside the vessel. As for one who does not breathe, he may, if he wishes, drink in a single breath.’

I say: This is a sound distinction. There is also a report, attributed to the Prophet, from Abu Qatadah commanding that one drink in a single breath. Al-Hakim narrated it, and it is to be understood according to the distinction mentioned above.”

I say: I have not found the hadith to which he refers in al-Hakim’s work as a narration from Abu Qatadah. Rather, he narrates it from Abu Hurayrah—the hadith whose wording I cited shortly before from the narration of Ibn Majah. Its wording in al-Hakim is:

“None of you should breathe into the vessel while drinking from it. Rather, when he wishes to breathe, let him move it away from himself and then breathe.”

I think this is what al-Hafiz intended, but he erred in attributing it to the hadith of Abu Qatadah. And Allah knows best.

Moreover, the permissibility mentioned above of drinking in a single breath does not conflict with the sunnah of drinking in three breaths. Both are permissible, but the latter is better, on account of the hadith of Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:

“When he drank, he would take three breaths, and he would say: ‘It is more satisfying, more wholesome, and healthier.’”

387 — “When he drank, he would take three breaths, and he would say: ‘It is more satisfying, more wholesome, and healthier.’”

Muslim, Abu Dawud (3727), al-Nasa’i in al-Kubra (folio 65/2), al-Tirmidhi (1/344), who graded it good, and Ahmad (3/118–119, 185, 211, 251) narrated it through Abd al-Warith ibn Sa'id Abu Isam, from Anas.