Ahmad 4638

Its chain of transmission is sound in itself, but here it is an incomplete chain in both original manuscripts. For Imam Ahmad never met Maamar, indeed he was born after Maamar's death, so it is impossible for him to narrate from him by direct hearing, since he only narrates from Maamar's students. For this reason I have placed blank spaces between "he told us" and "Maamar," and I have not been able to identify by name which of Ahmad's teachers who narrate from Maamar is meant here. However, I lean toward thinking that in this instance it is Ismail bin Ibrahim, that is, Ibn Ulaya, because the three hadiths before this one were narrated by the Imam from Ibn Ulaya, and because this hadith was narrated by Muslim (1:283) through the route of Ibn Ulaya from Maamar.Abdullah bin Muslim bin Ubaydullah bin Shihab Zuhri is the brother of the Imam Zuhri, Muhammad bin Muslim. Abdullah was the elder of the two, and he was a trustworthy and reliable tabii who died before his brother. He narrated from his brother, and his brother narrated from him."Al-Muzah" of meat, with the mim vocalized with damma and the zay with sukun, means a small piece of it. See hadiths 4407 and 4440 for the meaning of this hadith.