If Ibn Abi Hatim mentions the subject of the biography between two Companions among the narrators, what is the basis for classifying him as a Companion?

The questioner : Shaykh, the Hafiz also mentioned in *al-Isabah* that if Ibn Abi Hatim mentions a man among the narrators, or among the sheikhs from whom the subject of the biography narrates, or who narrate to the subject of the biography, and he mentions him between two Companions, then he is a Companion. That is, he said that such a person narrated from three, or from five, such and such, and such and such, and such and such. If the first is a Companion and the third is a Companion, he asserts with certainty that the second is a Companion, because in such a context and such a listing, would a Successor be placed between two Companions?

The Shaykh : This is the reasonable and implied meaning.

The questioner : This is the practice followed.

The Shaykh : By Allah, yes.

The questioner : What Allah willed.

The Shaykh : Oh, by Allah, Allah is the Greatest. The precision of these scholars, the Hafizs, is something amazing.

The questioner : Yes, he said this in *al-Isabah*, Part 4, page 91, biography number 2003.

The Shaykh : Okay.

The questioner : 2003, yes. Good. Just as with Zuhayr ibn Abi Jabal, who is in *al-Jarh wa al-Ta'dil* and has a biography there. Good, he was biographed between two Companions. May Allah preserve you.