"it is not narrated from Abū Hurayrah except through this isnād, and Aḥmad is the only one who reported it." I said: He is a trustworthy and reliable memorizer, as are those above him; except for (Rayāḥ) - with the letter thāʾ from below - Abū Zurʿah said: "He is truthful." Ibn Ḥibbān mentioned him in "al-Thiqāt" (6/310). And he said in "al-Mīzān": "A man of evil." This was said by Abū Dāwūd. I said: He is one of the ascetics among the innovators in Kūfah. He narrated from Mālik ibn Dīnār. And from him, Rūḥ ibn ʿAbd al-Muʾmin narrated. Abū Zurʿah said: He is truthful, and Abū ʿUbayd al-Ājurrī said: I asked Abū Dāwūd about him? He said: He, Abū Ḥabīb, and Ḥibbān al-Jurayrī, and the fourth of them in heresy! I said: Likewise, in "al-Lisān" nothing more was added, and I see a vast difference between this statement of Abū Dāwūd and the statements of Abū Zurʿah and Ibn Ḥibbān. Despite this, I see in Abū Dāwūd's statement an uncommendable exaggeration, even if his intention was to deter or warn against his innovation, which al-Dhahabī pointed out! It appears that he means his excessive asceticism and worship. Abū Nuʿaym narrated in "al-Ḥilyah" (6/192-197) strange and wondrous things from him, including his saying: "I heard Mālik ibn Dīnār say: A man does not reach the rank of the truthful until he leaves his wife as if she were a widow and resorts to the garbage dumps of dogs!" Al-Dhahabī transmitted it in his biography in "al-Siyar" (8/174), and he remained silent about it, contrary to his usual practice in such calamities that contradict the guidance of the Master of the Prophets and the truthful ones﵊! Rather, this contradicts his own ḥadīth which made striving for..