Bukhari 6168

Both of them (Bukhari and Muslim) recorded the hadith of Amash, from Abu Waail, from Abu Musa, "A man is with whomever he loves," through the narration of Thawri, Abu Muawiya, and Muhammad bin Ubayd. He said, and they were followed by Zuhayr, Ziyad bin Khaythama, Hamd bin Kunasa, Mansur bin Abu Aswad, and Jubayr bin Hunayn Jazari.They both also recorded it through the hadith of Shuba, Jareer, and Sulayman bin Qarm, from Amash, from Abu Waail, from Abdullah. Bukhari added that they were followed by Abu Awana. He said, and they were followed by Ubayda bin Humayd, Mindal, Hafs, Imran, and Salih bin Abu Aswad. Both are preserved as coming from Amash. And Allah knows best.

Al-Hafiz, may Allah have mercy on him, said in the introduction, after Daraqutni's statement that both paths are preserved from Amash, "I say, so there is no point in his additional verification." End quote.He said in Fath al-Bari, volume 10, page 558, printing "TS", regarding his words "from Abdullah", "This is how the companions of Shuba narrated it. They said 'from Abdullah' without specifying his lineage, among them Ibn Abu Adi as found in Muslim, Abu Dawud Tayalisi as found in Abu Awana, Amr bin Marzuq as found in Abu Naeem, and Abu Amir Aqadi and Wahb bin Jareer as found in Ismaili. Ismaili related from Bundar that he was Abdullah bin Qays, Abu Musa Ashari, and he supported this with the narration of Sufyan Thawri from Amash which will come right after this, and what supports it will come as well. But the approach of Bukhari indicates that this hadith existed with Abu Waail both from Ibn Masud and from Abu Musa, and that both paths are sahih, because he indicated the disagreement on this matter without giving preference to either. That is why Abu Awana mentioned in his Sahih, on the authority of Uthman bin Abu Shayba, that both paths are sahih."Then al-Hafiz, may Allah have mercy on him, said, "I say, this is supported by the fact that it has a basis with Ibn Masud. Abu Naeem related in the book al-Muhibbin, through the route of Atiya, from Abu Saeed, who said, 'My brother Abdullah bin Masud and I came, and he said, "I heard the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family."'" He then mentioned the hadith. He also related it through the route of Masruq, from Abdullah. End quote.

I say, Jareer bin Abdul-Hameed, who explicitly stated that Abdullah is Ibn Masud, was described by Hafiz in his biographical entry in Taqrib as trustworthy, with an accurate written record, though it was said that toward the end of his life he began to make mistakes in what he had memorized. Moreover, the narrators from him did not agree that Abdullah is Ibn Masud, as previously mentioned in Hafiz's words, may Allah have mercy on him. I fear that either he or one of the narrators from him simply followed the well-worn path, since Abu Waail narrated a great deal from Abdullah bin Masud. And when narrators differ, preference is given to the narration of the one who did not simply follow the well-worn path, as stated in Fath Mughith, volume 1, pages 212 and 213, and as in Sharh Ilal Tirmidhi by Hafiz Ibn Rajab, pages 486, 487, and 488, where he, may Allah have mercy on him, gave examples of this.