The Shaykh’s remarks on the chain of narration of a hadith and explaining its degree of authenticity or weakness.

The Shaykh : But is this hadith authentic? The author mentioned that there is disagreement among the hadith scholars regarding it, and he explicitly stated that some of them graded it as authentic, namely al-Hafiz Ibn Khuzaymah and his student Ibn Hibban. However, he followed this by stating that the Imam and critic, al-Hafiz Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Nasa'i, preferred the view that it is mursal (a report missing the Companion link). The meaning of this statement is that the hadith was narrated from Ibn Abbas through the route of Ikrimah from him. Some narrators narrated it in this connected form, from Ikrimah from Ibn Abbas, that an Arab man... and so on. Other narrators narrated it as mursal, meaning they did not mention Ibn Abbas in its chain of narration; rather, they said, "From Ikrimah, that an Arab man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)." Ikrimah was a Tabi'i (from the generation after the Companions) who did not live to see the era of Prophethood and the Message. So when he says, "An Arab man came to the Messenger," there is a gap and a break between him and this hadith which he is reporting. This hadith is generally called a mursal hadith, and it is sometimes referred to as munqati' (a report with a broken chain). The first term is more precise. Some narrators said, "From Ikrimah from Ibn Abbas," so it is connected (mawdu). And some narrators said, "From Ikrimah, that an Arab man..."