What was ʿAffān’s central criticism in Hishām Abū al-Miqdām’s case?

Narrator Criticism, Integrity and Precision: Standards of Scholarly Appraisal

• Only the verbosity of two copies differed without any change in transmission links
• Initially naming Yaḥyā as an intermediary and later claiming direct hearing
• Direct hearing was independently established and unchallenged by the earlier recorded chain
• ʿAffān’s criticism concerned solely the legal meaning, not the chain