He (al-Tabarani) relates it on the authority of Ahmad, with the same chain but retaining the uncertainty. Apparently the doubt originated with Imam Ahmad, whereas al-Tabarani most probably reported it without any hesitation as coming from Abd Allah b. Badr; this is what allowed al-Mundhiri and, after him, al-Haythami to assert categorically that every transmitter in the chain is trustworthy. Had al-Tabarani’s version also contained the same doubt found in Ahmad’s report, they could not have spoken so definitively—unless, of course, the copy of the Musnad in their hands agreed with the manuscript used by Ibn Hajar. That remains possible. Allah knows best. What further supports our conclusion—endorsed by Ibn Hajar—that this Abd Allah is indeed Ibn Badr is that Imam Ahmad recorded the hadith elsewhere (2/525) through the route of Umar b. Yasaf: Yahya b. Abi Kathir narrated from Abd Allah b. Badr al-Hanafi, from Abu Hurayra, as a marfu (Prophetic) report. Accordingly, the hadith is really that of Ibn Badr al-Hanafi; nevertheless, the name of the Companion differs: Ikrima names him Talq b. Ali, whereas Yahya names him Abu Hurayra. There is also a discrepancy in the Musnad manuscripts regarding the father’s name of Abd Allah al-Hanafi. After citing the version with Abu Hurayra, al-Haythami remarks: “Ahmad relates it from Abd Allah b. Zayd al-Hanafi, from Abu Hurayra, and I have found no biographical entry for him.” On the basis of this wording al-Haythami corrected the name against that given by Abu Abd Allah al-Husayni. Ibn Hajar likewise states in Taʿjil al-Manfaʿa: “Thus did our teacher al-Haythami amend it; yet in the original section of Musnad Abi Hurayra the hadith comes through the route of Amir b. Yasaf.” I add: He then reproduced it exactly as it appears in our own copy of the Musnad, and then said: