Musnad Imam Shafi'i

Imam Shafi’i, may Allah have mercy on him, said: I generally heard it from them in this way during my time, then I found in my book that “one of us made a slave a mudabbar and he died.” This (phrase) is either a mistake in my book or a mistake from Sufyan, may Allah have mercy on him. If this mistake is from Sufyan, then Ibn Jurayj and Abu’l-Zubayr are more reliable in remembering the hadith than Sufyan, and then with Ibn Jurayj, Layth and others also narrate this (Ibn Jurayj’s) hadith. And Abu’l-Zubayr also mentions the limit of the mudabbar’s life in the hadith. And Hammad ibn Zayd, Hammad ibn Salamah, and others besides them are more reliable in remembering the hadith of ‘Amr than Sufyan alone. The reliability in memorizing hadith is established because of the mistakes I found in the hadith of Ibn Jurayj and Layth from Abu’l-Zubayr. And in the hadith of Hammad, which is from ‘Amr, and others besides Hammad who narrate from ‘Amr, they narrate it just as Hammad ibn Zayd narrated it. And among those who met Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah earlier than me, several told me that he did not mention the word “died” (māt) in his hadith. And when I told them that I found the word “died” in my book, some of them were surprised. Imam Shafi’i, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Perhaps this is a mistake or slip that I remembered from them.