Explaining the state of the hadith's chain of narration: (Whoever washes a corpse and conceals its faults...)

The Shaykh : So, what we did just now was return to "Al-Tabarani's Great Encyclopedia," especially since the volume containing this hadith has been printed, and praise be to Allah. As for Al-Hakim, we have had it with us for a long time. We found that the hadith's various routes, both in Al-Tabarani and Al-Hakim, converge on a man who is a shaykh of the two Shaykhs (Al-Bukhari and Muslim) and a shaykh of the shaykhs of the two Shaykhs, namely: Abdullah ibn Yazid al-Muqri al-Misri. He is a shaykh of Al-Bukhari and Muslim, and those above him in the chain are also from the men of the two Shaykhs or one of them. Al-Hakim said: "Its chain is authentic according to the conditions of Muslim," meaning from this al-Muqri and upwards. As for those below him, they are not among the shaykhs of the two Shaykhs. Similarly, Al-Tabarani narrated it from a route through al-Muqri, and Al-Hakim from two routes through al-Muqri. The first shaykh in Al-Tabarani's narration, who said: , is not among the shaykhs of the two Shaykhs, as we mentioned. Second, we did not find a biographical entry for him in any of the sources we have. So, the least that can be said about him is that he is unknown to us. His name is Harun ibn Malul. In the printed copy, he is described as al-Basri, but in my old memory, it says al-Misri, especially since his shaykh, as I mentioned to you earlier, is also al-Misri. The point is that this man, Harun ibn Malul, the shaykh of Al-Tabarani who narrated the hadith from al-Muqri, is the one who said: . Al-Hakim, who narrated it with the wording: , narrated it from two shaykhs—these are not his shaykhs, but rather shaykhs of his shaykhs—from al-Muqri, with the wording: . So, we have two narrations: , which is unique to Harun ibn Malul al-Basri or al-Misri, and : two shaykhs of the hadith narrated it with this wording. If Harun ibn Malul were known for justice, trustworthiness, and precision, we would say that his narration is anomalous (shadh), because he contradicted two trustworthy narrators. When a single hadith comes in two different forms, one must choose the stronger one. The method of choosing is to say: if the contradicting narrator is trustworthy, and the contradicted narrators are more trustworthy or more numerous, the contradicting narration is called an anomalous narration. If the contradicting narrator is weak or unknown, his narration is called denounceable (munkar), because it contradicts the authentic narration. In summary, after this explanation and clarification, which many of you may benefit from, if Allah wills: the narration: is weak, and the narration: is the authentic narration. Let this be kept in mind, and let those who wish to record this note it in the margin of the book.