Abū al-Raddād al-Laythī complained of an ailment, so ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf visited him and said: "The best of them and the most connected of them, and what did you know, Abū Muḥammad?" ʿAbd al-Raḥmān replied: "I heard the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) say," and he mentioned it. Then both of them [al-Bukhārī and Muslim] narrated it through the path of Maʿmar from al-Zuhrī, who told me that Abū Salamah said that al-Raddād al-Laythī informed him from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf that he heard the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) with its meaning. Aḥmad also narrated it (1/194) from this path with the wording of Sufyān, and Ibn Ḥibbān (2033) in a similar manner. Al-Tirmidhī said: "The ḥadīth of Sufyān from al-Zuhrī is authentic, and Maʿmar says similarly." Muḥammad said: "And the ḥadīth of Maʿmar is incorrect." Al-Mundhirī followed up by saying (3/225): "There is a consideration in al-Tirmidhī's authentication of it, for Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān did not hear anything from his father, as stated by Yaḥyá ibn Maʿīn and others." I say: What seems apparent to me is that al-Tirmidhī does not mean that the ḥadīth is authentic with respect to its attribution to the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam), but rather with respect to al-Zuhrī only, meaning that what Sufyān attributed to him from the ḥadīth with the mentioned isnād is correctly attributed to him, unlike what Maʿmar attributed to him, which is incorrect. This is what comes to mind when considering the entirety of his statement, and that does not imply that the ḥadīth is authentic according to him from the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam). And Allāh knows best. I say this as an explanation and direction for al-Tirmidhī's statement. Otherwise, the ḥadīth is authentic according to me, and Maʿmar did not err in it. Rather, it was Sufyān who fell short in his isnād, making it disconnected. The evidence for this is that Maʿmar was followed up on it. Imām Aḥmad, after narrating it previously, as if he indicated its strengthening, said: "Bishr ibn Shuʿayb ibn Abī Ḥamzah narrated to us, who said: My father narrated to me from al-Zuhrī, who told me that Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said that Abū al-Raddād al-Laythī informed him from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf that he heard the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) say," and he mentioned it. So this is a strong follow-up for Maʿmar from Shuʿayb ibn Abī Ḥamzah, for he is trustworthy and relied upon