and precision.

Al-Nasa’i declared him weak outright, and others also criticized him. However, Ibn ‘Adi said: “He is the most reliable of people in narrating from al-Layth.” Al-Hafiz relied on this statement in al-Taqrib, saying: “Trustworthy in his narrations from al-Layth.” Regarding Qutaybah, he said: “Trustworthy and exceptionally precise.”

Once the difference between the two men is clear, one is more reassured by Qutaybah’s narration—whose trustworthiness and precision are unanimously accepted—than by the narration of Yahya ibn Bukayr, concerning whom there is disagreement, even though Ibn ‘Adi’s unqualified statement suggests that his narration from al-Layth in particular is to be preferred over that of others who narrated from him.

Nevertheless, whether this version is established from Yahya is also open to question, because its narrator from him, ‘Ubayd ibn ‘Abd al-Wahid ibn Sharik, has likewise been criticized. Here is what appears in his biographical entry in al-Khatib’s Tarikh Baghdad (11/99):

“Al-Daraqutni said: ‘Truthful.’ Abu Muzahim Musa ibn ‘Ubayd Allah said: ‘He was one of the trustworthy narrators, and I did not write anything from him during his deterioration.’ Ibn al-Munadi said—meaning, in his history: ‘Most people narrated from him. Then he suffered an affliction that altered him in his final days, though even so he remained truthful.’ Al-Khatib said: ‘I did not write anything from him.’”

The conclusion of the above is that Ahmad’s version, from al-Layth, from Abu Kathir al-Jallah, from al-Mughirah ibn Abi Burdah, from Abu Hurayrah, is the authentic one as transmitted from al-Layth and al-Jallah.

Once this has been established, the chain of transmission is authentic. All of its narrators are trustworthy and are among Muslim’s narrators, except al-Mughirah, who is trustworthy, as al-Nasa’i stated. Ibn Hibban mentioned him in al-Thiqat (1/218–219), and a number of narrators transmitted from him.

For completeness, it is fitting that I now cite the wording of the report through this chain, for it is more complete. Abu Hurayrah said: