Ahmad 7780

Its chain of transmission is sahih, despite an error concerning one of its narrators, as will be mentioned, Allah willing.Ibn Abu Unays, this is how the name is fixed in the three original manuscripts, in the diminutive form, with a ya between the nun and the sin. But there is no narrator by this name, as far as I know, and I consider it more likely that the error originated with Qutayi, or with those who transmitted the Musnad from him after that. It is an old error, one which Ibn Kathir recorded in Jami al-Masanid, 7:528, in this chain and in these three chains. He placed it near the end of the Musnad of Abu Hurairah, after [the Kunyas] and [the Sons], in a chapter he titled "The Sons Who Narrated from Abu Hurairah," in which he mentions the narrators whose names were not known and who narrated from their fathers, from Abu Hurairah. So he entitled this narrator "Ibn Abu Unays, from his father, from him," meaning from Abu Hurairah. He did not mention these chains in their proper place, under the narration of Malik bin Abu Amir Asbahi, the ally of Banu Taym, from Abu Hurairah, 7:332. I do not think Ibn Kathir was incapable of verifying this chain and establishing the correct name of this narrator. Rather, he found it this way in the copies of the Musnad, just as we found it, and so he recorded it as he found it.Perhaps he postponed verifying it until he could revisit the book to make up what he had missed in it, but ﷺ he did not finish composing the book, as is well known. The correct name of this narrator is Ibn Abu Anas, in its non-diminutive form, with fatha on the hamza and the nun, and without a ya. He is Nafi bin Malik bin Abu Amir bin Amr bin Harith Asbahi, the uncle of Imam Malik bin Anas. His kunya was Abu Suhayl, and the kunya of his father Malik was Abu Anas. So he is Nafi bin Abu Anas.His reliability was already established earlier at [1390]. He was a contemporary of Zuhri, and in fact outlived him in death, as Hafiz stated definitively in Fath al-Bari, 4:97. His biography appears in Tarikh al-Kabir by Bukhari, 4/2/88, in Jarh wa Tadil by Ibn Abu Hatim, 4/1/453, and in Rijal Sahihayn, p.528.So this is the correct form of his name, Ibn Abu Anas, as is established in the rest of the narrations to which we will refer in the sourcing of the hadith, Allah willing.His father was Abu Anas Malik bin Abu Amir, the grandfather of Imam Malik. His reliability was already established at [1390], and this is supported by the fact that Ibn Saad included his biography in Tabaqat, 5:45, as did Bukhari in the Kabir, 4/1/305, and in the Saghir, p.85, and Ibn Abu Hatim, 4/1/214, and Rijal Sahihayn, p.479.Bukhari narrated the hadith, 97 and 6:241, from Yahya bin Bukayr, from Layth bin Saad, from Aqeel, from Ibn Shihab, that is Zuhri, who said, "Ibn Abu Anas, the freedman of the Taymites, told me that his father told him that he heard Abu Hurairah say..." and he mentioned the hadith. Hafiz said, "Ibn Abu Anas is Abu Suhayl Nafi bin Abu Anas Malik bin Amir."Muslim, 1:297, and Nasai, 1:299, likewise narrated it, both by way of Ibn Wahb, from Yunus, from Zuhri, from Ibn Abu Anas, that his father told him.Nasai also narrated it, 1:298–299, by way of Nafi bin Yazid, that is Kalai the Egyptian, from Aqeel, from Ibn Shihab, who said, "Abu Suhayl informed me, from his father, from Abu Hurairah..."Nasai also narrated it, 1:299, by way of Bishr bin Shuayb, from his father, from Zuhri, who said, "Ibn Abu Anas, the freedman of the Taymites, told me that his father told him that he heard Abu Hurairah..."Its meaning has already occurred within another hadith, from another route, from Abu Hurairah, 71048, and see the three chains that follow after this.