he frequently practises concealment in transmission; but when he says, “He narrated to us,” he is trustworthy.”

I say: Yet in al-Ḥākim’s version, the chain employs the ambiguous “from” formula! True, in the versions of al-Bukhārī and Ibn Ḥibbān he says, “Thābit narrated to us,” so the defect is removed and the hadith is established.

Al-Mundhirī said (4/46): “Al-Ṭabarānī and Abū Yaʿlā related it from Anas, and its transmitters are those of the Ṣaḥīḥ, except for al-Mubārak ibn Fuḍālah.”

Al-Haythamī said (10/276): “Al-Ṭabarānī related it in al-Awsaṭ, as did Abū Yaʿlā and al-Bazzār, with similar wording. The transmitters of Abū Yaʿlā and al-Bazzār are transmitters of the Ṣaḥīḥ, apart from al-Mubārak ibn Fuḍālah, whom more than one critic declared trustworthy, despite some weakness in him.”

I say: Al-Taqrīb states: “Truthful; he practises concealment in transmission and chain-leveling.”

I found a strong corroborating route for it, though they judged it defective. Al-Khaṭīb recorded it (9/440): “ʿAlī ibn Abī ʿAlī informed us; ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Nāqid narrated to us; Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī al-Bajalī al-Ṣaffār narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn Ḥammād al-Narsī narrated to us; Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated to us from Thābit,” with the same report.

Al-Khaṭīb then mentioned that the aforementioned al-Ṣaffār alone transmitted this report from ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn Ḥammād, and that connecting it back to the Prophet was an error concerning Ḥammād ibn Salamah. For Ḥammād only relates it from Thābit, from Muṭarrif ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Shikhkhīr, who said: “We used to say that no two men love one another for Allah’s sake.” This is what is reliably preserved from him. Perhaps al-Ṣaffār erred and followed the customary, recurrent chain from Thābit, from Anas.

I say: Al-Khaṭīb stated that this al-Ṣaffār was trustworthy and dependable, and he transmitted it with a connected chain. A connected chain is an additional detail, and it comes from a trustworthy narrator, so it must be accepted. It is also possible that Ḥammād had two chains for it: from Thābit, from Anas; and from him, from Muṭarrif. Thus, he would narrate it one way at times and the other way at other times. There are many such examples in chains of transmission. What matters is the report of a trustworthy narrator; and since al-Ṣaffār is such a narrator, his hadith is authoritative evidence if