The Messenger of Allah ﷺ distributed a share of wealth, and I said, "Messenger of Allah, give to so-and-so, for he is a believer."The Prophet ﷺ replied, "Or a Muslim?"I repeated it three times, and he kept responding three times, "Or a Muslim?"Then he said, "I sometimes give to a man while another, whom I love more than him, receives nothing, out of fear that Allah may cast him face-down into the Fire."
حدثنا ابن أبي عمر حدثنا سفيان عن الزهري
قسم رسول الله ﷺ قسما فقلت يا رسول الله أعط فلانا فإنه مؤمن فقال النبي ﷺ أو مسلم أقولها ثلاثا ويرددها علي ثلاثا أو مسلم ثم قال إني لأعطي الرجل وغيره أحب إلي منه مخافة أن يكبه الله في النار
Muslim reported from Ibn Umar, from Sufyan, from Zuhri, from Amir bin Saad, from his father, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, distributed a portion, or Muslim narrated it. Humaydi said, from Ibn Uyayna, from Maamar, from Zuhri.
Ibn Hajar said in Nukat Ziraf, commenting on the statement "they added Maamar to it," meaning between Ibn Uyayna and Zuhri, I say, I found it in the Musnad of Ibn Abu Umar with Maamar affirmed in it, and Abu Naeem likewise transmitted it in his Mustakhraj by the same route with it affirmed. So perhaps its omission came from one of the narrators from him, either from Muslim or from someone below him, or it may be that when he narrated it to Muslim he related it from memory. End of quote.Ibn Hajar said in Fath al-Bari, volume 1, page 88, and Muslim narrated it from Muhammad bin Yahya bin Abu Umar, from Sufyan bin Uyayna, from Zuhri, and an error occurred in its chain, either from him or from his teacher, because the majority of the narrations in the collections and musnads are from Ibn Uyayna, from Maamar, from Zuhri, with Maamar added between them. Likewise Ibn Abu Umar, the teacher of Muslim, narrated it in his Musnad from Ibn Uyayna with Maamar included, and Abu Naeem likewise transmitted it in his Mustakhraj by the same route.Abu Masud claimed in Atraf that the error in it originated from Ibn Abu Umar, and this is plausible, since the error may have occurred when he narrated it to Muslim, though the source of the error cannot be pinpointed with certainty. Shaykh Muhyi Din explained it by suggesting that Ibn Uyayna narrated it once omitting Maamar and once affirming him, but this explanation is unlikely, because the narrations from Ibn Uyayna have consistently affirmed Maamar, and the omission is not found except with Muslim, while what is found in his teacher's Musnad has no omission, as we mentioned earlier. I have clarified this with its evidences in my book al-Talliq. End of quote.