This report is transmitted solely by ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Bakr ibn Zayd ibn al-Muhājir al-Madani, from Muslim ibn Abī Sahl al-Nabbāl, from al-Ḥasan ibn Usāmah, from his father. No one relates it from ʿAbd Allah except Mūsā ibn Yaʿqūb al-Zamʿī, so al-Tirmidhī’s grading of it as sound (ḥasan) is open to critique. (1)
al-Tirmidhī also declared sound the narration of Yūsuf ibn Ibrāhīm, from Anas:
“Someone asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, ‘Which member of your household is dearest to you?’
He replied, ‘Ḥasan and Ḥusayn.’
He would draw them close, inhale their fragrance, and hug them.” (2)
Maysarah ibn Ḥabīb—through al-Minhāl ibn ʿAmr, through Zir, from Ḥudhayfah—reported that he heard the Prophet ﷺ say:
“This is an angel who has never descended before this night. He asked his Lord for permission to greet me and to give me the glad tidings that Fāṭimah is the mistress of the women of Paradise and that Ḥasan and Ḥusayn are the chiefs of the youth of Paradise.”
al-Tirmidhī graded this narration sound (ḥasan). (3)
He likewise authenticated the report transmitted by al-Barāʾ that the Prophet ﷺ caught sight of Ḥasan and Ḥusayn and said, “O Allah, I love them, so love them.” (4)
(1) The author states in his Tarikh, 2/217: “It is transmitted through the chain of Abd Allah b. Abi Bakr b. Zayd b. Muhajir – a Medinan whose status is unknown – from Muslim b. Abi Sahl al-Nabbal, who is likewise unknown, from al-Hasan b. Usama b. Zayd, who is virtually unknown, from his father. I do not recall these three being cited in any isnad except this one. The report is unique to Musa b. Yaqub al-Zam‘i, from Abd Allah.”
Tirmidhi’s grading of the hadith as hasan (sound) cannot, on its own, justify using it as evidence, for he himself explains: “Whenever we describe a hadith in our book as hasan, we mean by that that, in our view, its chain contains no narrator accused of lying, the hadith is not shadh (anomalous), and it is reported through at least one other route; such a report, for us, is hasan.”
(2) Reported by al-Tirmidhi (no. 3772); Yusuf b. Ibrahim is weak.
(3) As stated: it is found in Tirmidhi under no. 3781 and also in Ahmad, 5/391; al-Khatib, 6/372. Its chain is sahih (authentic). Al-Hakim, 3/151, declared it sahih and al-Dhahabi concurred. Ibn Hibban also graded it sahih (no. 2229), though in abridged form.
(4) The report appears in Sunan al-Tirmidhi (no. 3782), cited above.