whereas the preceding report is not sound because of its chain of transmission, as are the other narrations that convey the same meaning—see al-Daiʿfa, no. 929, and Irwaʾ al-Ghalil, no. 357; cf. Sahih Sunan Abi Dawud, no. 789, and Tamam al-Minna, pp. 193–196. Some critics have raised three objections against the present hadith: 1. al-Dirawardi is the sole transmitter from Muhammad ibn Abdillah; 2. Muhammad is the sole transmitter from Abu al-Zinad; and 3. al-Bukhari’s remark: “I do not know whether Muhammad ibn Abdillah ibn al-Hasan actually heard from Abu al-Zinad or not.” None of these objections is decisive. Regarding the first two: both al-Dirawardi and his shaykh Muhammad are reliable— as already noted—so their solitary transmission does not impair the hadith. Multiple routes are not a prerequisite for soundness; otherwise many authentic reports would be rejected, including some in Sahih al-Bukhari itself, such as the opening hadith “Actions are only by intentions,” which is transmitted solely by Yahya ibn Saʿid al-Ansari from Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Taymi from Alqama ibn Waqqas al-Laythi from Umar. As for the third objection, it rests on al-Bukhari’s personal condition that an actual meeting be established. The majority of hadith specialists require only that a meeting be possible—that the two narrators lived in the same period and that the transmitter is free of tadlis. These conditions are satisfied here. Muhammad ibn Abdillah is not known for tadlis; he was a Medinan who died in 145 AH at the age of fifty-three. His shaykh Abu al-Zinad died in 130 AH, also in Medina, which means Muhammad could have heard from him for a lengthy span of time.