A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked, "Messenger of Allah, how many times should we pardon a servant?"He remained silent. The man repeated his question, and he remained silent again. When the man asked a third time, he said, "Pardon him seventy times each day."
جاء رجل إلى النبي ﷺ فقال: يا رسول الله، كم نعفو عن الخادم؟ فصمت، ثم أعاد عليه الكلام، فصمت، فلما كان في الثالثة، قال: اعفوا عنه في كل يوم سبعين مرة.
Abu Dawud (5164), Tirmidhi (1949, in the second version), and Bukhari in Tarikh al-Kabir (3/7) all narrated it through various routes from Ibn Wahb, from Abu Hani Khawlani, from Abbas bin Julayd Hajri, who said, "I heard Abdullah bin Amr say," and then he mentioned it. Its chain of transmission is sahih.Abu Hani's actual name was Humayd bin Hani Khawlani Misri. Abu Hatim said, "His hadith is acceptable (salih al-hadith)," and Nasai said, "There is no harm in him." Daraqutni also affirmed his reliability. He was one of the senior teachers of Ibn Wahb Misri. Likewise, his own teacher, Abbas bin Julayd Hajri, was reliable (thiqah).However, Bukhari said, "Some narrated it from Ibn Wahb, saying, 'Abu Hani narrated to us, from Abbas, from Ibn Umar, from the Prophet ﷺ.'" By this he meant what Saeed bin Abu Ayub narrated, tracing it with a full chain back to him, and Ahmad (5635) also narrated it through his route. Likewise, Tirmidhi (1949) narrated it through another route, from Rushdin bin Saad, from Abu Hani with his chain, and said, "This is a hasan gharib hadith."Note, this same wording also appears in the printed edition of Abu Dawud, but the correct version is as mentioned earlier, as Mizzi explicitly stated.This chain of transmission is daif because of a break in it, for Abu Hatim explicitly stated in Maraseel (141), "I do not know that Abbas bin Julayd heard anything from Ibn Umar." And in Ilal (2341), he gave preference to the narration through Abdullah bin Amr, saying, "It is more likely to be correct."If this is confirmed, then there is no real inconsistency in the chain, for what is preserved is the version that says, "from Abdullah bin Amr bin As." However, Bukhari, may Allah have mercy on him, in light of this disagreement, said, "This is a hadith that requires scrutiny," meaning by this that it is daif. And Allah knows best what is correct.