Ahmad 2803

This hadith was narrated by Ahmad from his teacher Abdullah bin Yazid Muqri through three chains of transmission. One of them is sahih, while the other two are disconnected. The narrations of some of them became intermixed with each other, and Abdullah bin Yazid said, "I cannot distinguish the narration of one from the other." This is the hadith that Ibn Rajab referred to in Jami al-Ulum wal-Hikam 132, and we have already quoted his statement in the commentary on hadith 2669.As for the first chain, it is Abdullah bin Yazid, from Kahmas bin Hasan, from Hajjaj bin Farafisa, who traced it up to Ibn Abbas. This is disconnected. Hajjaj bin Farafisa, with the first "fa" carrying a damma and the second a kasra, Bahili, is a late figure. He narrated only from the Successors, such as Ibn Sirin and Ayub, and from those who came after them, such as Yahya bin Abu Kathir. He did not meet Ibn Abbas. Abu Abdul-Rahman Abdullah bin Yazid Muqri, Ahmad's teacher, mentioned that he saw him as a boy and greeted him. Abdullah bin Yazid died in the year 212 or 213, having lived past a hundred years of age.We have placed in brackets, at the words "Abu Abdul-Rahman said [he is Abdullah bin Yazid]," so that no one would think this refers to Abdullah bin Ahmad bin Hanbal, the narrator of the Musnad.This Hajjaj is trustworthy. Ibn Hibban mentioned him in Thiqat, and Abu Hatim said, "A righteous, devout sheikh." Bukhari also included his biography in Kabir 1/1/2/277.Kahmas bin Hasan Tamimi Basri is trustworthy. Ahmad, Ibn Main, Abu Dawud, and others affirmed his trustworthiness, and Bukhari also included his biography, 4/1/239-240. He died in the year 149.The second chain is Abdullah bin Yazid, from Hammam bin Yahya, who traced it to Ibn Abbas. This too is disconnected. Hammam bin Yahya bin Dinar Basri, his trustworthiness was already established at 284. He narrated from the Successors, such as Ata bin Abu Rabah and Nafi, and from those who came after them, such as Ibn Jurayj. He did not meet Ibn Abbas. He died in the year 163, and Bukhari included his biography in Kabir 4/2/237.The third chain is Abdullah bin Yazid Muqri, from Abdullah bin Lahia and Nafi bin Yazid, from Qays bin Hajjaj, from Hanash Sanani, from Ibn Abbas. This chain is sahih and connected.Ibn Lahia is trustworthy, as we have said many times. He died in the year 174, and he narrated from Qays bin Hajjaj, as stated in Tahdhib in the biography of Qays, and as we will mention. Nafi bin Yazid Kalai, with the "kaf" carrying a damma and the "lam" unshadowed, Misri, is trustworthy, reliable, and dependable, one of the finest of people. He died in the year 168, and Bukhari also included his biography, 4/2/86. So this chain is sahih and connected.Tirmidhi narrated this hadith, 3:321-322, through the route of Abdullah bin Mubarak, from Layth bin Saad and Ibn Lahia, from Qays bin Hajjaj, and through the route of Abu Walid, from Layth bin Saad, from Qays bin Hajjaj, and he said, "The hadith is hasan sahih." Ahmad narrated something similar earlier. He narrated it at 2669 from Yunus, from Layth, from Qays bin Hajjaj, and he narrated it at 2763 from Yahya bin Ishaq, from Ibn Lahia, from Nafi bin Yazid, from Qays. This is how it appears in both original manuscripts at 2763, "Ibn Lahia, from Nafi bin Yazid." But the narration here comes from Abdullah bin Yazid Muqri, and both this and Tirmidhi's narration indicate that Ibn Lahia narrated it together with Nafi, both from Qays bin Hajjaj. So either what appears in the two manuscripts is a copyist's error, and the correct reading is "Ibn Lahia and Nafi bin Yazid," or Ibn Lahia heard it both from Qays directly and from Nafi, from Qays, or the mention of Nafi is firmly established, and he narrated it both ways. In any case, the chain is sahih.A strange error occurred in one printed edition regarding the third chain. It was recorded there as follows, "And Abdullah told me, he said, 'My father told me, Ibn Lahia narrated to us.'" The copyist assumed this was the beginning of a chain in the Musnad, narrated by Qatii from Abdullah bin Ahmad from his father, so he recorded it in the usual pattern, thinking that the phrase "he said, my father told me, narrated to us" had been dropped, and so he added it to the chain. This created the false impression that the one saying "And Abdullah told me" was Qatii, and the false impression that Imam Ahmad narrated directly from Ibn Lahia. This is impossible and false, refuted by chronology and the science of chains of transmission.The copyist of manuscript K nearly fell into this same error, having added this same addition, but then he caught his mistake and struck it out, arriving at the correct reading. Rather, the one who says "And Abdullah bin Lahia told me" is Abdullah bin Yazid Muqri.