his Sahih, and al-Tabarani with an authentic chain of transmission. This is what I stated in Takhrij Fada'il al-Sham (p. 91). A distinguished Meccan court notary took issue with me in a letter he wrote to me dated 29/4/90, which evidenced knowledge and merit. I therefore considered it worthy of attention and of writing this reply. He—may Allah preserve him—said:

1. Al-Tirmidhi and al-Hakim both recorded it through Yahya ibn Ayyub al-Ghafiqi. Although the two Shaykhs cited Ibn Ayyub as an authority, the imams of narrator criticism and accreditation have continued to deem weak the hadiths transmitted through him, as will follow.

2. Imam Ahmad recorded it from Ibn Lahi'ah. The criticisms of Abdullah ibn Lahi'ah are well known, even though Muslim narrated from him in conjunction with another narrator.

3. As for al-Hakim’s statement that it meets the conditions of al-Bukhari and Muslim, and al-Dhahabi’s concurrence with him: al-Dhahabi—may Allah have mercy on him—has errors and inconsistencies in his Talkhis which may not be unknown. One of them is that al-Harith ibn Abi Usamah is also in al-Hakim’s chain, yet al-Dhahabi—may Allah have mercy on him—overlooked him, despite having impugned him in Talkhis al-Mustadrak, p. (158/1). There, al-Hakim declared one of his hadiths authentic according to the conditions of al-Bukhari and Muslim, whereupon al-Dhahabi said: “I say: It is a rejected narration, and al-Harith is not a dependable authority.” Al-Dhahabi also mentioned him in The Weak and Abandoned Narrators and said that he was weak, as cited in al-Manawi’s Fayd, p. (7/6); and he included a biographical notice of him in Tadhkirat al-Huffaz.

4. As for Yahya ibn Ayyub, al-Hakim recorded a hadith of his in al-Mustadrak, p. (201/2), and said: “Authentic according to the conditions of the two Shaykhs, though they did not record it.” Al-Dhahabi then remarked: “Yahya ibn Ayyub has been subject to criticism.”

5. Al-Hakim also recorded in his Mustadrak, p. (97/3), a hadith of his which he said was according to the