Bukhari 2234

15 - Both of them (Bukhari and Muslim) narrated the hadith of Layth, from Saeed, from his father, from Abu Hurairah, that he heard him say that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said, "If any of your slave women commits adultery and her adultery becomes clear, let him flog her with the prescribed punishment, and let him not reproach her."He said, and a group narrated it from Saeed, among them Ubaydullah bin Umar, but there is disagreement about it. Yahya al-Umawi and Muhammad bin Ubayd said, from Ubaydullah, from Saeed, from his father, from Abu Hurairah, matching the version of Layth. But Mutamir, Abu Usama, Ibn Numayr, Ibn Mubarak, Abdah bin Sulayman, and Uqba bin Khalid disagreed with them, narrating it from Ubaydullah, from Saeed, from Abu Hurairah, without his father.There is also disagreement about Ibn Ishaq. Abdah said, from him, from Saeed, from his father, from Abu Hurairah, matching the version of Layth, but more than one narrator disagreed with him. Ayub bin Musa, Ismail bin Abu Umaya, Usama bin Zayd, and others narrated it from Saeed, from Abu Hurairah, without mentioning his father. Hisham bin Hassan and Ibn Uyayna narrated it from Ayub bin Musa, and Thawri and others narrated it from Usama bin Zayd.Muslim included it with its variant versions, while Bukhari included only the version of Layth.

Then I saw that the Hafiz Ali bin Madini mentioned it in Al-Ilal, p. 87, saying after citing the hadith, "Ibn Ishaq narrated it from Saeed bin Abu Saeed Maqburi from Abu Hurairah, and Abdul-Rahman bin Ishaq narrated it from Saeed bin Abu Saeed, saying, 'I heard Abu Hurairah.' I examined it and found that Saeed did not hear it from Abu Hurairah. Ibn Ishaq and Layth bin Saad narrated it from Saeed bin Abu Saeed from his father from Abu Hurairah, and Ayub bin Musa narrated it from Saeed from Abu Hurairah. In my view, the hadith is that of Saeed from his father from Abu Hurairah, while the version of Abdul-Rahman bin Ishaq from Saeed, saying, 'I heard Abu Hurairah say,' is a mistake, and I fear he may not have preserved it well." End of quote.The Hafiz Alai mentioned something similar from Ibn Madini in Jami Tahsil, vol. 2, p. 404. End of quote.I say, both Bukhari and Muslim included the hadith of Layth, which Ibn Madini ruled to be sahih. Bukhari then mentioned the hadith of Ismail bin Umaya as a suspended narration, and Muslim mentioned the version of those who said "from Saeed from Abu Hurairah" among the corroborating narrations, so there is no objection to either of them, especially since Layth bin Saad is among the most reliable transmitters regarding Saeed. In Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, in the biography of Layth, it is stated that Hanbal reported from Ahmad, "Layth is dearer to me than the others in what he narrates from Maqburi." And Abdullah reported from his father, "The most sahih of people in hadith from Maqburi is Layth, he used to distinguish between what was narrated from Abu Hurairah directly and what was narrated from his father from Abu Hurairah." End of quote.

I say that concerning this hadith, I have not seen Hafiz addressing a response to it, either in Fath al-Bari or in its introduction, nor did Nawawi in his commentary on Sahih Muslim. Perhaps the two of them found it sufficient to rely on what was mentioned earlier, that Saeed, may Allah have mercy on him, was confirmed to have heard from his father and from Abu Hurairah. Given this, there is nothing preventing him from narrating it sometimes from one and sometimes from the other, since his hearing from both of them is established. And Allah knows best.