Muslim 5487

Muslim narrated it from Abu Khaythama, from Ismail, meaning Ibn Abu Uways, from Sulayman, from Zuhri, from Anas, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, that he wore his ring on his right hand, its bezel being part of it, and he would turn its bezel toward his palm.And from Uthman and Sayyad, from Talha, from Yunus, in a similar manner.This hadith is preserved from Yunus, and it was narrated from him by Layth, Ibn Wahb, and Uthman bin Umar.

Hafiz Dhahabi said in al-Mizan, "A prolific muhaddith, but there is some looseness in him." Ahmad said, "There is no harm in him." Ibn Abu Khaythama reported from Yahya, "Truthful, but weak in intellect, not up to standard." Abu Hatim said, "His standing is truthfulness, but he is heedless." Daraqutni said, "I would not choose him for al-Sahih."Then Hafiz Dhahabi said, "I say, Ibn Adi cited three hadiths for him, then said, 'He narrated strange reports from his maternal uncle Malik that no one else corroborates him in, and from Sulayman bin Bilal, and Bukhari narrated extensively from him.'" End of quote.Hafiz [Ibn Hajar] said in the introduction to al-Fath, after mentioning something similar to what has preceded, "I say, we have reported in the Manaqib of Bukhari with a sahih chain that Ismail brought out his source books for him and permitted him to select from them, and to mark for him what he should narrate so that he would narrate only that and avoid everything else. This indicates that what Bukhari narrated from him is from the sahih portion of his hadith, since he took it from his source books. Accordingly, nothing of his hadith should be relied upon except what is in al-Sahih, regarding what Nasai and others criticized in him, unless someone else shares in narrating it, in which case it is considered as corroboration." End of quote.

I say, the gist of Daraqutni's statement, may Allah have mercy on him, as quoted by Nawawi, is that the students of Yunus differed regarding him. Talha bin Yahya and Ismail bin Abu Uways both narrate it from Yunus and add to it the phrase "in his right hand," while Layth bin Saad, Abdullah bin Wahb, and Uthman bin Umar do not mention it. There is no doubt that the narration of these three should be given preference over the narration of Talha and Ismail, since they are reliable and precise memorizers.As for Talha bin Yahya, the Hafiz said about him in Taqrib, "Truthful, but prone to error." And as for Ismail bin Abu Uways, the Hafiz said about him in Taqrib, "Truthful, but he made mistakes in some hadiths from his memory."