Ismāʿīl ibn al-Farrāʾ and Aḥmad ibn al-ʿImād informed us, saying:
“The Imām Abū Muḥammad ibn Qudāmah informed us; Abū Bakr ibn al-Naqqūr informed us; ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad informed us; ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥammāmī narrated to us; Daʿlaj ibn Aḥmad narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Būshanjī narrated to us; Yaḥyā ibn Bukayr narrated to us; al-Layth narrated from Ibn al-Hād, from Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd, from Ṣāliḥ ibn Kaysān, from Ibn Shihāb, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, from Abū Hurayrah, who said:
‘I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say:
“While I was sleeping I saw myself at a well. I drew from it as much water as Allah willed me to draw. Then the son of Abū Quḥāfah drew one bucket or two, but his drawing was weak—may Allah forgive him. Then the bucket turned into a large one, whereupon the son of al-Khaṭṭāb took hold of it. I have never seen anyone of such prodigious strength among mankind draw water as he did, until the people watered their animals and settled.”’
This ḥadith has a sound, well-preserved text. Al-Bukhārī and Muslim both authenticated it (1) through the route of Yūnus and ʿAqīl from Ibn Shihāb. Our particular transmission, however, is singular and carries an underlying defect, for al-Bukhārī recorded it from Yasara ibn Ṣafwān who said: ‘Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd narrated to us from al-Zuhrī himself.’ Muslim likewise recorded it from a reliable transmitter, from Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm, from his father, from Ṣāliḥ, matching our route. Allah knows best.
ʿAbd al-Ḥāfiẓ ibn Badrān and Yūsuf ibn Aḥmad informed us, saying:
“Mūsā ibn ʿAbd al-Qādir informed us; Saʿīd ibn al-Bannāʾ informed us; ʿAlī ibn al-Busrī informed us; Abū Ṭāhir al-Mukhlis narrated to us; Yaḥyā ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿImrān al-ʿĀbidī narrated to us; Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd narrated to us, from al-Zuhrī, from Ibn al-Musayyab …”