Grading: (1) This narration is sahih as mawquf (as the saying of a Companion), and its narrators are trustworthy (thiqah).
Technical note / Defect ('illah): There is a disagreement among Shu'bah's students over whether it is marfu' (a saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)) or mawquf, as the author (al-Hakim) will indicate later, but mawquf is more sound, because the majority of Shu'bah's trustworthy students narrated it as mawquf, among them Waki' with Ibn Abi Shaybah in his 'Musannaf' 1/345, Ali bin al-Ja'd as in al-Baghawi's 'al-Ja'diyyat' (482), Wahb bin Jarir, Hafs bin Umar Abu Umar al-Hawdi and Sulayman bin Harb as with al-Bayhaqi in his 'Sunan' 3/174, and Amr bin Marzuq with Qasim bin Asbagh in his book, as in Ibn al-Qattan al-Fasi's 'Bayan al-Wahm wa al-Iham' 2/278.
Important point: We could not find the narration of Ghundar (Muhammad bin Ja'far) that the author mentioned, although Ghundar is the most reliable of people in Shu'bah's narrations, as more than one scholar said; Ibn al-Mubarak said: "When people differ over a hadith of Shu'bah, Ghundar's book is the judge between them." Abd al-Haqq al-Ishbili, in 'al-Ahkam al-Wusta' 1/274, declared this report sahih as mawquf, and Ibn al-Qattan al-Fasi did not object to him in 'al-Wahm wa al-Iham' 2/278 and 3/96, as though agreeing with him.

Reference / Source: Ibn Majah (793) and Ibn Hibban (2064) narrated it as marfu' via Abd al-Hamid bin Bayan (with Ibn Hibban pairing Zakariyya bin Yahya with him) with this same chain, and they added the words "except for an excuse". See the narrations after it.

Criticism of a narrator: (1) Qurad Abu Nuh (Abd al-Rahman bin Ghazwan, mentioned in the chain just above), although trustworthy, has some narrations that are objected to (munkar), as al-Dhahabi said in 'al-Kashif'.
Technical note: The author's (al-Hakim's) preference for his narration and Hushaym's over the narrations of Shu'bah's other trustworthy students, as discussed above, is leniency (tasahul) on his part (may Allah have mercy on him).