Al-Suddī reported: Anas ibn Mālik told us that birds were presented to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. He distributed them but left one bird aside and said, “O Allah, bring to me the person most beloved to You among Your creation.” ʿAlī then came, and he related the well-known Ḥadīth of the Bird (ḥadīth al-ṭayr).

That narration has numerous chains traced back to Anas which have been the subject of critique, although some of them meet the requirements of the Sunan collections. Among the strongest is the route of Qaṭan ibn Nasīr—one of Muslim’s teachers—who said: “Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān narrated to us; ʿAbd-Allāh ibn al-Muthannā narrated to us, from ʿAbd-Allāh ibn Anas ibn Mālik, from Anas, who said: ‘A roasted partridge was presented to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and he said, “O Allah, bring to me the person most beloved to You among Your creation that he may eat with me,”’” and he recounted the remainder of the story.

Jaʿfar al-Aḥmar transmitted—from ʿAbd-Allāh ibn ʿAṭāʾ, from Ibn Buraydah, from his father—who said: “The woman dearest to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was Fāṭimah, and the man dearest to him was ʿAlī.” Al-Tirmidhī recorded this report and graded it “sound but singular” (ḥasan gharīb).

Abū Isḥāq al-Sibāʿī narrated—from Abū ʿAbd-Allāh al-Jadalī—that he said: “I visited Umm Salamah and she asked, ‘Is the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, insulted among you?’ I replied, ‘God forbid!’ She then said, ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: Whoever reviles ʿAlī has reviled me.’” Aḥmad included it in his Musnad.

Al-Aʿmash likewise transmitted—from ʿAddī ibn Thābit, from Zirr, from ʿAlī—who said: “Indeed …”