The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Do not lie about me, for whoever lies about me will enter the Fire."Hajjaj said, I asked Shuba, "Did he meet Ali?"He replied, "Yes, he narrated to me from Ali," but he did not say that he heard from him directly.
حدثنا يحيى يعني ابن سعيد عن شعبة ح وحدثنا حجاج أنبأنا شعبة عن منصور قال يحيى قال حدثني منصور عن ربعي قال سمعت
قال رسول الله ﷺ لا تكذبوا علي فإنه من يكذب علي يلج النار قال حجاج قلت لشعبة هل أدرك عليا قال نعم حدثني عن علي ولم يقل سمع
Both of its chains are sahih. Ahmad narrated it from Yahya Qattan from Shubah, and from Hajjaj bin Muhammad from Shubah, giving each of their two narrations separately. At the end he mentioned that Hajjaj asked Shubah about Rabi bin Harash, whether he met Ali or not, and Shubah's answer that he did meet him, and that Mansur had related it to him from Rabi from Ali, but that he did not say "I heard Ali." This is problematic, unless Shubah forgot when he narrated it to Hajjaj, for the hadith has already been given with two sahih chains, 629 and 630, from Shubah from Mansur from Rabi, who said, "I heard Ali." We give preference to the narration affirming that he heard it over the narration denying it, and this is supported by the narration that follows immediately after this one.