A Narrator about whom Ibn Ḥibbān erred, mentioning him among the Tābiʿīn and also among the Followers of the Tābiʿīn!
Clarifying the rank of Yūsuf ibn ʿAbdillāh ibn al-Ḥārith and affirming his hearing from Anas ibn Mālik.
Among Ibn Ḥibbān’s listings is a narrator he placed both among the Tābiʿīn and among their Followers, a duplication that demands clarification.
Ibn Ḥibbān said in the section of the Tābiʿīn in al-Thiqāt (5/550):
“Yūsuf ibn ʿAbdillāh ibn al-Ḥārith, the nephew of Ibn Sīrīn, a Baṣrī. He narrates from Anas ibn Mālik. ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal and Khālid al-Ḥadhdhāʾ narrated from him.”
Then he mentioned him in the section of the Followers of the Tābiʿīn (7/633), saying:
“Yūsuf ibn ʿAbdillāh ibn al-Ḥārith, the nephew of Ibn Sīrīn, a Baṣrī. He narrates from his father and from Abū al-ʿĀliyah. ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal, Khālid al-Ḥadhdhāʾ, and the people of Baṣrah narrated from him. It has been said that he saw Anas ibn Mālik.”
I say: They are one and the same, and the correct view is that he is a Tābiʿī, and he heard from Anas ibn Mālik.
Al-Bukhārī said in al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr (8/372):
“Yūsuf ibn ʿAbdillāh ibn al-Ḥārith, the nephew of Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn al-Baṣrī. He heard from his father and from Anas ibn Mālik. ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal, Khālid al-Ḥadhdhāʾ, Sulaymān ibn al-Mughīrah, and Mubārak ibn Faḍālah narrated from him.”
Muslim narrated from him in his Ṣaḥīḥ (4/1725), no. 2196:
Yaḥyā ibn Yaḥyā said: “Abū Khaythamah informed us, from ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal, from Yūsuf ibn ʿAbdillāh, from Anas ibn Mālik regarding ruqyah. He said: ‘Permission was given for (ruqyah) in cases of poison stings, skin eruptions (namlah), and the evil eye.’”
He (Muslim) also said:
“Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah narrated to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Ādam narrated to us, from Sufyān [ḥ]. And Zuhayr ibn Ḥarb narrated to me, saying: Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to us, saying: Ḥasan – meaning Ibn Ṣāliḥ – narrated to us, both of them from ʿĀṣim, from Yūsuf ibn ʿAbdillāh, from Anas, who said: ‘The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ permitted ruqyah for the evil eye, poison stings, and skin eruptions (namlah).’”
And in the narration of Sufyān it is: “Yūsuf ibn ʿAbdillāh ibn al-Ḥārith.”
Written by: Khālid al-Ḥāyik.
2010/19.