Al-Hakim said: “It is authentic according to the criteria of both of them, for both relied on Malik ibn Suʿayr, and a solitary narration from trustworthy narrators is accepted.” Al-Dhahabi agreed with him.

I say: Malik ibn Suʿayr was truthful, as Abu Zurʿah and Abu Hatim said. However, al-Bukhari did not rely on him as proof; he only included him as a corroborating narrator. Muslim, moreover, narrated from him only in the Introduction. Thus, a narrator such as him may be relied upon when he is alone in reporting a narration and does not contradict others. If we give preference to Wakiʿ’s mursal narration, Malik has contradicted him, and Malik’s narration is therefore anomalous; Wakiʿ’s mursal narration would be the preserved one. But if we give preference to Wakiʿ’s connected narration, the two reports are in agreement, and each serves as corroboration for the other. This, in my view, is more likely, since the agreement of three narrators in reporting it from Wakiʿ with a connected chain makes it ordinarily unlikely that they all concurred in error, even if some of them—or some of those narrating from him—have a weakness that does not entail any accusation. When Malik ibn Suʿayr’s narration is added to this, the hadith gains strength and rises to the rank of good or authentic. And Allah knows best.

(Note)

Al-Ramahurmuzi said after the hadith: “Their wording—that is, the narrators from Abu al-Khattab—agreed in pronouncing the mim of the word muhdāh with a dammah. Al-Burti alone said mihdāh, pronouncing the mim with a kasrah, deriving it from guidance. He was a precise and discerning scholar, distinguished in jurisprudence and language. His reading is more sound in consideration, because the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was sent as a guide, as Allah, Exalted is He, says: ‘Indeed, you guide to a straight path’; and as He, Mighty and Majestic, says: ‘We have sent down to you the Book so that you may make clear to the people’; and: ‘so that you may bring them out from the darknesses into the light’; and other such verses. Those who narrated it with a dammah on the mim only meant that Allah had bestowed him upon the people. This is also close [in meaning].”