"and this isnād is authentic; its narrators are trustworthy." I said: However, in my view, it is flawed due to contradiction and error on the part of Abū Khālid, whose name is Sulaymān ibn Ḥayyān al-Aḥmar. Although he is considered trustworthy and relied upon in the "Ṣaḥīḥayn," his memory is weak, as becomes clear to anyone who reviews the statements of the scholars about him in "al-Tahdhīb." The ḥāfiẓ summarized it—as is his habit—in his book "al-Taqrīb," saying: "Truthful but makes mistakes." A group of trustworthy narrators contradicted him and narrated from al-Aʿmash with the wording: "The best of you are those with the best character." Abū Khālid himself agreed with them in a narration from him, as will be shown, so it appears he was inconsistent in this matter, sometimes narrating it with this wording and sometimes correctly. Here is the clarification of the paths we referred to with the correct wording: "The best of you are those with the best character."

- "The best of you are those with the best character." It was recorded by al-Bukhārī (4/121) from Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth, and in "al-Adab al-Mufrad" (271) from Sufyān, and by Muslim (7/78) from Abū Muʿāwiyah, Wakīʿ, Ibn Numayr, Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar, and al-Ṭayālisī (2246) from Shuʿbah, and from his path by al-Tirmidhī (1/357) and Aḥmad (2/161) also from Abū Muʿāwiyah, all from al-Aʿmash who said: I heard Abū Wāʾil narrate from Masrūq from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr who said: The Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) said: and he mentioned it. And he added: "The Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) was neither obscene nor indecent." Al-Tirmidhī said: "This ḥadīth is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ."