I have acquired this book published by Maktaba tul-Madina of Dawat e-Islami , I personally do not think they would publish a book authored by a deviant.
KattarSunni wrote: " His name is Zahir Ahsan alNimawi. He is the student of Allama AbdulHayy alLacknawi. He wrote 'Athar alSunan', then a sharh on 'Athar', then a ta'liq on the sharh. He passed away in the year 1325ah." https://sunniport.com/index.php?threads/hanafi-fiqh-books.8831/ Not passing any judgements. just presenting info
"Mawlana Muhammad Zahir Ahsan al-Nimawi (d. 1322/1904), Allah have mercy on him, the famous hadith-scholar, author of Athar al-Sunan, would seek assistance from Shaykh (Anwar Shah al-Kashmiri) with regards to the ambiguities of hadith, by correspondence through letter-writing. He would seek help from him while writing his book Athar al-Sunan and he would present to him what he had written piece by piece. This is what I heard from the revered Shaykh (himself), Allah have mercy on him. He said in his book Nayl al-Firqadayn: “The deceased Shaykh (al-Nimawi) while writing that book would send it to me piece by piece, until I became an aide therein; and I added many things to it after him.” The Shaykh, Allah have mercy on him, at that time was a youth whose reputation was not (yet) manifest to the people while the hadith-scholar al-Nimawi was an experienced scholar, and in spite of this, this was his (manner of) interacting (with ‘Allamah Kashmiri), and this shows his intellectual humbleness and his estimation of men. Allah raise both their statuses."
https://friendsofdeoband.wordpress.com/2012/10/18/taqriz-of-ila-al-sunan-by-shaykh-abd-al-fattah/ "And after Imam al-Kawthari loftily praised the book Athar al-Sunan written for the same purpose by the great scholar, the hadith-scholar, the knowledgeable jurist, the critic, Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Ali known as Zahir Ahsan al-Nimawi (Allah Almighty have mercy on him)[3. ‘Allamah Anwar Shah al-Kashmiri (1292-1352 H/1875-1933 CE) helped the author with the writing of this book."
Asalam Alaikum brother AbdalQadir Yes this is the individual I am talking about. Even though it was directed at brother @abu Hasan all are welcome to reply Jazakumullah Khair
as you asked brother @abu Hasan not hijacking the thread, but your question piqued my curiosity, so i got googling, and came up with the book and the mentioned personality. please confirm if this is the book and the person you're talking about https://archive.org/details/hanafi_201603/page/n401/mode/1up?view=theater
What was the aqīdah of Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī Nimawī the author of Ãthār al-Sunan. Is his gradings of hadith and commentary to be relied upon? @abu Hasan