it is one of his errors, and I believe the reason is due to two matters: first, he did not come across the narration of al-Bazzār which explicitly states that (Ashʿath) is (Ibn Sawār), and he is not among the men of 'al-Ṣaḥīḥ' due to his weakness. The second is that he mistakenly thought that this (Ashʿath) is (Ibn Abī al-Shaʿthāʾ); they mentioned him among the narrators from (Kurdūs al-Thaʿlabī), but the four who narrated this ḥadīth from (Ashʿath) did not include anyone who narrated from (Ibn Abī al-Shaʿthāʾ); thus, it is determined that he is not him, but rather (Ibn Sawār). The ḥadīth has supporting evidence that strengthens it; it is narrated by Asbāṭ ibn Naṣr from al-Suddī from Abū Saʿd al-Azdī—who was a reciter of the Azd— from Abū al-Kunūd from Khabbāb regarding the verse: "And do not turn away those who call upon their Lord morning and afternoon" to His saying: "lest you become of the wrongdoers" (Sūrah al-Anʿām, verse 52). He said: Al-Aqraʿ ibn Ḥābis al-Tamīmī and ʿUyainah ibn Ḥiṣn al-Fazārī came and found the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ with Ṣuhayb, Bilāl, ʿAmmār, and Khabbāb sitting among some of the weak believers. When they saw them around the Prophet ﷺ, they belittled them, so they approached him and spoke to him privately, saying... the ḥadīth is similar with additional details. It was recorded by Ibn Mājah (2714), Ibn Jarīr (7/127), and Ibn Abī Shaybah in "al-Muṣannaf" (12/207-208). From this perspective, it was also narrated by Ibn Abī Ḥātim; as in "Tafsīr al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr," and he said (2/135): "This is a strange ḥadīth; for this verse is Makkan, and al-Aqraʿ ibn Ḥābis and ʿUyainah only embraced Islam long after the migration." I say: it appears that the error is from Asbāṭ ibn Naṣr; for although he was truthful and among the men of Muslim, he made many mistakes and narrated rare things; as al-Ḥāfiẓ said in "al-Taqrīb."