with my letters.’ He said: ‘So I learned it, and not even half a month had passed before I had mastered it; after that I used to write for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ whenever he corresponded with them.’ (1)
Al-Aʿmash narrates—from Thabit ibn ʿUbayd—that Zayd said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to me, ‘Do you know Syriac?’ I replied, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Then learn it.’ So I learned it in seventeen days. (2)
Al-Walid ibn Abi al-Walid reported: Sulayman ibn Kharijah ibn Zayd related to us, from his father, from his grandfather, who said, ‘Whenever revelation came down to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he would send for me and I would write it down.’ (3) This is also transmitted by al-Layth from him.
Abu Ishaq relates from al-Baraʾ: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to me, ‘Call Zayd for me and say…’
(1) Its isnad is hasan because of Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi al-Zinad. Al-Bukhari cited it without the complete chain in his Sahih, 13/161, Book of Judicial Rulings, chapter: “Interpreters for judges and whether one interpreter suffices.” The connected version is supplied by Ibn Saad 2/358–359; al-Bukhari in al-Tarikh al-Kabir 3/380–381; Abu Dawud (3645); al-Tirmidhi (2716); Ahmad 5/186; and al-Tabarani (4856, 4857), all through the transmitter Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi al-Zinad with the same chain. Al-Hakim authenticated it, 1/75.
(2) Chain of transmission: sahih. Reported by Ahmad 5/182; al-Fasawi 1/483–484; al-Hakim 3/422; and al-Tabarani (4928) via the route of Jarir. Ibn Saad 2/358 and al-Tabarani (4927) also transmit it through Yahya ibn Isa al-Ramli—both routes going back to al-Aamash with this same isnad.
(3) Reported by al-Tabarani (4882) through Abd Allah ibn Salih, from al-Layth with this chain. The isnad is weak because of the weakness of Abd Allah ibn Salih and the softness of al-Walid ibn Abi al-Walid; moreover, the shaykh of Sulayman ibn Kharijah is only deemed reliable by Ibn Hibban. Nevertheless, al-Haythami states in Majma al-Zawaid 9/17 that its isnad is hasan.