from the middle tier, not the highest, because there is some weakness in him. Thus, he is among those whose ḥadīth is used as evidence at the level of ḥasan, as long as he does not contradict or his error is not evident. This is the meaning of his statement in "al-Ḍuʿafāʾ" (218/2): "Trustworthy. Al-Nasāʾī said: He is not that strong, and Abū Ḥātim said: He is not used as evidence." And his statement in "al-Tadhkirah" (1/228) after mentioning some of the statements of those who deemed him reliable and those who weakened him. "I said: His ḥadīth is in the six books, and his ḥadīth contains anomalies." It is not hidden from the student of knowledge that his statement "contains anomalies" does not mean "rejected ḥadīth," for the first means that anomalies occasionally occur in his ḥadīth, while the latter means he frequently has anomalies, and thus he is not used as evidence. In contrast, the first is considered evidence in the absence of contradiction, as we mentioned. Therefore, Muslim used him as evidence, whereas al-Bukhārī narrated from him for corroboration and follow-up, as indicated by al-Ḥāfiẓ in "Muqaddimat al-Fatḥ" (p. 451). Once you understand this, it becomes easy for you to correctly understand al-Dhahabī's statement quoted by the writer in paragraph 6: "It is a rejected report, and Yaḥyā is not strong." There is also a difference between al-Ḥāfiẓ's statement "not strong" and "not that strong," for the former negates all strength from him, equating to saying "weak," whereas the latter negates a specific type of strength, which is the strength of the well-established memorisers. Thus, there is no contradiction between this statement and his previous statement "Yaḥyā, although trustworthy, has some weakness." As for his statement "it is a rejected report," the reason for its rejection is not clear to me, and Allāh knows best, unless he means Yaḥyā's singularity in it, which is not harmful since he was not alone in it, as has been and will be mentioned. Therefore, there is no basis for calling it "rejected," and Allāh knows best. 7 - Al-Dhahabī's statement "I said: This is among the anomalies of Yaḥyā," meaning it is among his singular reports, as previously mentioned
من الدرجة الوسطى لا العليا لأن فيه ضعفا، فهو في زمرة الذين يحتج بحديثهم في مرتبة الحسن ما لم يخالف أو يتبين خطؤه وهذا هو معنى قوله فيه في " الضعفاء " (٢١٨ / ٢) : " ثقة قال النسائي: ليس بذلك القوي، وقال أبو حاتم: لا يحتج به ". وقوله في " التذكرة " (١ / ٢٢٨) بعد أن حكى بعض أقوال الموثقين والمضعفين. " قلت: حديثه في الكتب الستة وحديثه فيه مناكير ". ولا يخفى على طالب العلم أن قوله: " فيه مناكير " ليس بمعنى منكر الحديث فإن الأول معناه أنه يقع أحيانا في حديثه مناكير والآخر معناه أنه كثير المناكير فهذا لا يحتج به، بخلاف الأول فهو حجة عند عدم المخالفة كما ذكرنا ولذلك احتج به مسلم وأما البخاري، فإنما روى له استشهادا ومتابعة كما أفاده الحافظ في " مقدمة الفتح " (ص ٤٥١) . وإذا عرفت هذا سهل عليك أن تفهم على الصواب قول الذهبي الذي نقله الكاتب في الفقرة ٦ -: " هو خبر منكر ويحيى ليس بالقوي ". فإن ثمة فرقا أيضا بين قول الحافظ " ليس بالقوي " وقوله " ليس بقوي " فإن هذا ينفي عنه مطلق القوة فهو يساوي قوله " ضعيف " وليس كذلك قوله الأول: " ليس بالقوي " فإنه ينفي نوعا خاصا من القوة وهي قوة الحفاظ الأثبات وعليه فلا منافاة بين قوله هذا وقوله المتقدم " يحيى وإن كان ثقة ففيه ضعف ". وأما قوله " هو خبر منكر " فلم يظهر لي وجه نكارته والله أعلم إلا إن كان يعني تفرد يحيى به، فهو غير ضار حينئذ على أنه لم يتفرد به كما مضى ويأتي فلا وجه لقوله " منكر " والله أعلم. ٧ - قول الذهبي " قلت: هذا من مناكير يحيى ". أي من مفاريده كما تقدم.