ʿAbd al-Ghafir says in his History: “Abū al-Walīd travelled through many lands, collecting chains of transmission and rare narrations.” (1)
I add: He passed away in Samarqand during Ramadan of the year 456 AH.
ʿAbd al-Ghafir also states in al-Siyāq: “Abū al-Walīd al-Darbandī, the Sufi ḥadith scholar, was one of the itinerant shaykhs devoted to ḥadith.” (2)
Aḥmad ibn Hibat Allah narrated to us; Abū Rūḥ al-Bazzāz informed us; Zāhir related to us; Abū al-Walīd al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad transmitted; Abū al-Qāsim Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad al-Anbārī transmitted; Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Miswar narrated; al-Miqdām ibn Dāwūd narrated; ʿAlī ibn Maʿbad narrated; Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar—from ʿAmr ibn Abī ʿAmr—from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ashhalī—from Hudhayfa—who said:
The Prophet ﷺ declared, “By Him in Whose hand is my soul, you must enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, or Allah will soon send upon you a punishment from Himself; then you will supplicate to Him, and He will not answer you.” (3)
(1) The report is found in Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, 3/1155, and in Ibn Asakir’s Tahdhib, 4/250.
(2) Ibn Asakir, Tahdhib, 4/250.
(3) As for Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Ashhali, no one declared him reliable except Ibn Hibban, while Yahya ibn Main said, “I do not know him.” The remaining transmitters are trustworthy. Al-Tirmidhi (2169) recorded the hadith through two routes from Umar ibn Abi Amr with this isnad and deemed it hasan. Al-Khatib narrated it in his Tarikh, 13/92, from Abu Hurayra with the wording: “You must enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, otherwise Allah will empower over you the worst of your number, and the best among you will supplicate but will not be answered.” In its chain appears Mahmud ibn Muhammad al-Zafari; al-Daraqutni said he is not strong. Al-Haythami cited the narration in Majma al-Zawaid, 7/266, attributing it to al-Bazzar and al-Tabarani in al-Awsat, and remarked that its chain contains Hibban ibn Ali, who is abandoned; Ibn Main considered him reliable in one report and weak in others.
I add: the author listed Hibban in al-Mizan, 1/449, quoted the critics’ opinions, and concluded that he was not completely rejected. On this topic there is also a hadith of Aisha in Ibn Majah (4004) and Ibn Hibban (1846) with the wording: “Command what is right and forbid what is wrong before you pray, for your supplication will then not be answered.” Another report comes from Abd Allah ibn Umar in al-Hilya, 8/287, and in al-Tabarani’s al-Awsat, cited in Majma al-Zawaid, 7/266; al-Haythami comments that the chain contains narrators he does not know.