Abu Dawud said: This is a _mursal_ [tradition with a missing link in the chain], for 'Uthman did not hear from Safwan.

3780 — Harun ibn 'Abd Allah narrated to us, Abu Dawud narrated to us, Zuhayr narrated to us, from Abu Ishaq, from Sa'd ibn 'Iyad, from 'Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud, who said: The part of the sheep most beloved to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was the upper part of the thigh.

3781 — Muhammad ibn Bashshar narrated to us, Abu Dawud narrated to us, with this same chain of transmission, who said: —

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And it was also transmitted by al-Humaydi (564), Ibn Sa'd in his "Tabaqat" 5/25, Ahmad (15300), al-Darimi (2070), al-Tirmidhi (1940), al-Tabarani in "al-Kabir" (7332), and al-Bayhaqi in "al-Adab" (507) via the chain of 'Abd al-Karim ibn Abi al-Mukhariq, from 'Abd Allah ibn al-Harith, from Safwan ibn Umayyah. And Ibn Abi al-Mukhariq is weak in hadith.

And it was also transmitted by al-Tabarani (7331) via the chain of Yusuf ibn Hammad al-Ma'ni, from 'Uthman ibn 'Abd al-Rahman, from Muhammad ibn al-Fadl ibn al-'Abbas, from Safwan ibn Umayyah. And 'Uthman ibn 'Abd al-Rahman and Muhammad ibn al-Fadl are both weak. And the hadith of 'A'ishah preceding it bears witness to it.

And the Prophet's, peace and blessings be upon him, own action also bears witness to it, as we have indicated in the preceding hadith.

(1) This statement of Abu Dawud we have established from the margin of (A) and (H), and it was indicated in (H) that it is in the narration of Ibn al-A'rabi.

(2) Its chain of transmission is weak due to the unknown status of Sa'd ibn 'Iyad. And Zuhayr — who is Ibn Mu'awiyah — his hearing from Abu Ishaq — who is 'Amr ibn 'Abd Allah al-Sabi'i — was after the latter's memory became confused. Abu Dawud: he is Sulayman ibn Dawud al-Tayalisi.

And it was also transmitted by al-Nasa'i in "al-Kubra" (6620) from Harun ibn 'Abd Allah, with this same chain of transmission.

And it is in "Musnad Ahmad" (3733).

And see what follows it.

_al-'uraq_ with a _dammah_ on the 'ayn: the plural of _'arq_: the bone when most of the meat has been taken from it. One says: "I stripped the bone of meat" and "I stripped it" and "I stripped it" — when you take the meat from it with your teeth.