Azami 1589

Abu Dawud (136) and Tirmidhi (43) both narrated it from the hadith of Zayd bin Hubab, from Abdul-Rahman bin Thabit bin Thawban, who said, "Abdullah bin Fadl narrated to me," from Abdul-Rahman bin Hurmuz, who is al-Araj, from Abu Hurairah. Its isnad is hasan because of Abdul-Rahman bin Thabit bin Thawban, for Nasai declared him daif, while Abu Hatim deemed him trustworthy, and Ibn Main said he was lenient in his reliability. For this reason Tirmidhi passed two judgments on it, saying, "This is a hasan gharib hadith, we do not know it except through the hadith of Ibn Thawban, from Abdullah bin Fadl, and it is a hasan sahih isnad."I say, he first judged the isnad to be gharib because of Ibn Thawban's being the sole narrator of it, then he judged it to be sahih on the basis that if he were the sole narrator, then it would still be sahih in isnad. The correct view is that it is hasan in isnad, because of Ibn Thawban.