Weakening: This chain is "da'if" (weak) because of the weakness of al-Hakam bin 'Abd al-Malik.

Reference / Source: Abu 'Umar al-Duri narrated it in "Qira'at al-Nabi (peace and blessings be upon him)" (83) and al-Bazzar (3550) via Ishaq bin Mansur, from al-Hakam bin 'Abd al-Malik, with this same chain. Al-Bazzar said: We know this statement to be narrated only from 'Imran bin Husayn; we know of no one else who narrated it from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and we know of no route to him other than this one. Al-Hakam bin 'Abd al-Malik abridged it and mentioned the reading in it, so it became a separate hadith. Al-Hakam is not strong, but more than one person has narrated from him.

Correction and caution: The editor of the book "Qira'at al-Nabi" erred and put (سكارى) in the text with damma on the sin and with an alif, while indicating that his original had (سَكرى) without an alif! We say: that (سَكرى) is correct, for Ibn Abi Hatim stated explicitly in "al-'Ilal" (2828) that the narration of Ishaq bin Mansur al-Saluli is (سَكْرَى), with fatha on the sin and without an alif.

Reference: The hadith of al-Hakam bin 'Abd al-Malik will come later with the author (al-Hakim) at numbers (3004) and (3492) in the narration of al-Hasan bin Bishr from him, and in it: (وترى الناس سُكَارى) with damma on the sin and with an alif, as Ibn Abi Hatim also stated explicitly. Then he transmitted from Abu Zur'ah al-Razi that, when asked about these two readings, he said: "Neither this nor that; the trustworthy narrators narrated it without mentioning the letters (the reading) in it; they did not mention a reading."

Technical note: This hadith of al-Hakam is a fragment of a long hadith which others narrated from Qatadah, from al-Hasan, from 'Imran (see the next hadith and the earlier number 78). In it is (وترى الناس سُكَارى), which is the reading of Ibn Kathir, Nafi', 'Asim, Ibn 'Amir and Abu 'Amr (from among the seven), while Hamzah and al-Kisa'i read (سَكْرَى) in both places, without an alif and with fatha on the sin (the book "al-Sab'ah" by Ibn Mujahid, p. 434).

Supporting report: This word also occurs in the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (which is similar to the long hadith of 'Imran), narrated by al-Bukhari (4741). There the narrators differed: some mentioned it with an alif and some without an alif.