{وَمَا كَانَ لِنَبِيٍّ أَنْ يَغُلَّ} to the end of the verse [Āl ʿImrān: 161].
This is a ḥasan gharīb ḥadīth. And ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Ḥarb narrated from...
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(1) Weak; Khuṣayf — namely Ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān — is weak in memory, and the rest of its narrators are trustworthy, narrators of the two Shaykhs, except Miqsam, who is among the narrators of al-Bukhārī.
It was also reported by Abū Dāwūd (3971). It is in Sharḥ Mushkil al-Āthār by al-Ṭaḥāwī (5601) and (5602).
Al-Samīn al-Ḥalabī said in al-Durr al-Maṣūn 3/465–466: The saying of Allah the Exalted: {وَمَا كَانَ لِنَبِيٍّ أَنْ يَغُلَّ} — "an yaghulla" is in the nominative position as the subject of kāna, and "li-nabiyyin" is the preceding predicate, meaning: it was not for him to commit ghulūl (treachery regarding spoils) or to be accused of it, according to the two readings. Ibn Kathīr, Abū ʿAmr, and ʿĀṣim read with fatḥa on the yāʾ and ḍamma on the ghayn, from "ghalla" built for the active voice, meaning: it is not valid that ghulūl should occur from a prophet, due to their mutual incompatibility, so it is not permissible to imagine that of him at all.
The rest read "yughalla" built for the passive voice. This reading has two possibilities:
One of them: that it is from "ghalla" as a triliteral verb, and the meaning is: it is not valid for a prophet that another should betray him and defraud him of his due — so it is a negation in the sense of a prohibition, i.e., let no one defraud him.
The second possibility: that it is from "aghalla" as a quadriliteral verb, and it has two aspects: One of them: that it is from "aghallahu," i.e., attributed him to ghulūl, as they say "akdhabtahu," i.e., I attributed him to lying. This is in meaning like the one before it, i.e., a negation in the sense of a prohibition, meaning: let no one attribute him to ghulūl. The second: that it is from "aghallahu," i.e., found him to be a ghāll (one who commits ghulūl), as they say "aḥmadtu al-rajula," "abkhaltuhu," and "ajbantuhu," i.e., I found him praiseworthy, miserly, and cowardly. The apparent view is that the reading "yaghulla" with the yāʾ for the active voice does not have an omitted object assumed in it, because the purpose is to negate this attribute from the prophet without regard to connection with an object, as you say: "he gives and withholds," intending to affirm these two attributes. Abū al-Baqāʾ assumed an object for it, saying: its estimated form is: that he should defraud the wealth or the spoils.
See Ḥujjat al-Qirāʾāt, pp. 179–180, and al-Kashf ʿan Wujūh al-Qirāʾāt, 1/363–364.