Explanation of the author's statement: From Ibn 'Umar, Muhammad ibn Ka'b, Zayd ibn Aslam, and Qatadah — some of their narrations entered into others — that a man said during the expedition to Tabuk

The Shaykh : He said, "From Ibn 'Umar", and he is a Companion; "and Muhammad ibn Ka'b", and he is a Successor; "and Zayd ibn Aslam", and he is a Successor; "and Qatadah", a Successor. So the narration from these three is mursal (missing the Companion link), mursal. As for the narration from Ibn 'Umar, it is marfu' (traced to the Prophet) because Ibn 'Umar is one of the Companions. He said, "Some of their narrations entered into others". The meaning of "some of their narrations entered into others" is that this hadith is a compilation from their words; it is not one thing that one of them narrated alone, but rather it is a compilation from their words. This is done by some of the imams of narration, such as al-Zuhri and his like, when they narrate from a group of people regarding a story, such as the hadith of al-Ifk (the slander), for example. They compile this and make it into one hadith, and at the same time they indicate this matter by saying, for example, "some of their narrations entered into others," or "some of them narrated to me thus and some of them thus," or something similar, so that the hadith is not from the narration of one person to whom the entire hadith is attributed, when he only narrated part of it.
"That a man said during the expedition to Tabuk". Tabuk is in the borders of the Levant, and it was in the month of Rajab when the fruits were ripe. With the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in it were approximately thirty thousand. When they set out, 'Abdullah ibn Ubayy, the head of the hypocrites, returned with approximately half of the army, until it was said that it was not known which army was larger, those who returned or those who went. This indicates the ... hypocrisy in that year, which was the ninth year, at the end of the life of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and he called the people to him ...