of his hadith⦗1⦘.
Nafiʿ reported: I was with Ibn ʿUmar at the funeral of Abu Hurayrah, and he kept invoking mercy for him repeatedly, saying, “He was among those who safeguarded the hadith of the Messenger of Allah for the Muslims.”
Its chain of transmission contains al-Waqidi⦗2⦘.
Muhammad ibn Kunasa al-Asadi narrated, from Ishaq ibn Saʿid, from his father, who said:
“Abu Hurayrah once visited Aisha, and she said to him, ‘You have narrated a great deal, O Abu Hurayrah, from the Messenger of Allah.’
He replied, ‘Indeed—by Allah, O Mother—neither a mirror, nor kohl, nor oil ever kept me away from him.’
She said, ‘Perhaps so.’⦗3⦘
Bishr ibn al-Walid also transmitted the report from Ishaq, adding the words: ‘but I see that those things have occupied you.’
(1) Its transmitters are reliable and the chain is sound. Al-Tirmidhi also recorded it (no. 3836) in the chapter on merits and graded it hasan. It appears in Ibn ʿAsakir, Tarikh Dimashq, 19/118/2. Ibn Hajar cites it in al-Isabah, attributing it to al-Baghawi and judging its isnad good. Ahmad reproduces a longer version in his Musnad, 2/3. There Ibn ʿUmar initially challenged Abu Hurayra when the latter related the Prophet’s words: “Whoever follows a funeral and performs the prayer over it receives one qirat; if he stays until the burial, he receives two qirats, and a qirat is larger than Mount Uhud.” When Ibn ʿUmar heard ʿAʾisha confirm the report, he felt reassured and said, “Abu Hurayra, you were the companion who kept the closest company with the Messenger of Allah and the one among us most knowledgeable of his hadith.”
(2) The scholars unanimously consider him weak and his narrations inadmissible.
(3) Its transmitters are trustworthy. Ibn Hajar lists it in al-Isabah, attributing it to Ibn Saʿd and judging the isnad sound. It also appears in Ibn ʿAsakir, 19/120/1, and Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya, 8/108, through Abu l-Qasim al-Baghawi → Bishr b. al-Walid al-Kindi → Ishaq b. Saʿid → Saʿid … Al-Hakim relates it in al-Mustadrak, 3/509, through Khalid b. Saʿid b. ʿAmr b. Saʿid b. al-ʿAs → his father → ʿAʾisha, who summoned Abu Hurayra and said, “Abu Hurayra, what are these hadiths we hear you narrating from the Prophet? Did you hear anything we did not hear, or see anything we did not see?” He replied, “Mother, the mirror, kohl, and beautifying yourself for the Messenger of Allah used to occupy you, whereas, by Allah, nothing distracted me from him.” Al-Hakim declared the isnad authentic and al-Dhahabi concurred.