Muslim 1975

Muslim reported the hadith of Ibn Wahb from Khuzayma bin Bukayr from his father from Abu Burda from Abu Musa from the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family, concerning the hour on Friday in which prayer is answered, which is between the time the imam sits on the pulpit and the completion of the prayer.He said, no one gave this hadith a full chain except Makhrama bin Bukayr, from his father, from Abu Burda. A group of narrators have reported it as a saying of Abu Burda himself, and some of them traced it up to Abu Musa without giving it a full chain. The correct view is that it is a saying of Abu Burda with a broken chain. This is how Yahya bin Saeed Qattan reported it from Thawri, from Abu Ishaq, from Abu Burda, and Wasil Ahdab followed him in this, reporting it from Abu Burda as his own saying. This is what Jareer said, from Mughira, from Wasil. Mujalid bin Saeed also followed them, reporting it from Abu Burda in the same manner.Numan bin Abdul-Salam said, on the authority of Thawri, from Abu Ishaq, from Abu Burda, from his father, that it is a stopped narration, but the attribution to his father is not established, and no one raised it to the Prophet except Makhrama, from his father.Ahmad bin Hanbal reported from Hammad bin Khalid, I said to Makhrama, "Did you hear anything from your father?" He said, "No."

Hafiz said in Fath al-Bari, volume 2, page 422, discussing this hadith, "It has been criticized for being disconnected and inconsistent. As for the disconnection, Makhrama bin Bukayr did not hear from his father. This was stated by Ahmad, on the authority of Hammad bin Khalid, from Makhrama himself. Saeed bin Abu Maryam said the same, from Musa bin Salama, from Makhrama, and he added, 'They were only writings we had with us.' Ali bin Madini said, 'I never heard anyone among the people of Madinah say, regarding Makhrama, that he said in any of his hadiths, "I heard my father." One cannot argue that Muslim's condition for a mursal-style narration is satisfied merely by the possibility of meeting combined with contemporaneity, and that this is the case here, because we say that the explicit statement from Makhrama that he did not hear from his father is sufficient to establish the claim of disconnection."Hafiz's discussion, may Allah have mercy on him, is sufficient to give preference to the view that the hadith is disconnected. As for his statement, may Allah have mercy on him, "As for the inconsistency..." and so on, it appears that this should not actually be called inconsistency, since a condition of inconsistency is that the various routes be equal in strength, whereas here the disconnected route is the preferred one. So this falls rather under the category of an anomalous (shadh) report, which is when a reliable narrator contradicts someone more reliable than himself. And Allah knows best.