Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn … Hamzah and Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Ḥubaysh said:

“Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā al-Ḥulwānī informed us; Aḥmad ibn Yūnus narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn Fudayl narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī Rawwād, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar: A man of the Anṣār saw in a dream that someone asked him, ‘What does your Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—command you to do?’ He replied, ‘He commands us to glorify Allah (subḥānallāh) thirty-three times, to praise Him (al-ḥamdu lillāh) thirty-three times, and to magnify Him (Allāhu akbar) thirty-four times; that makes one hundred.’ The voice then said, ‘Instead, say subḥānallāh twenty-five times, al-ḥamdu lillāh twenty-five times, Allāhu akbar twenty-five times, and lā ilāha illā Allāh twenty-five times; that, too, is one hundred.’ When morning came he told the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—who said, ‘Do as the Anṣārī has instructed.’ ”

It is a singular report (gharīb among the afrad). Al-Nasāʾī also recorded it⦗1⦘ through Abū Zurʿah from Aḥmad, and we match his chain up to the teacher’s teacher.

As for ʿAlī (ibn Fudayl), he is truthful; al-Nasāʾī said of him, “trustworthy, reliable.” I add: he and his father rose above the weakness that often marks ascetics and Sufis; by unanimous agreement they are counted among the reliable transmitters.

ʿAlī was devout in worship, humble, full of awe, a godly man of high standing.

Al-Khaṭīb said: He died some time before his father. Hearing a Qurʾanic verse recited, he fell unconscious and passed away on the spot.

Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥārith al-ʿUbbādī related: “ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAffān narrated to us; Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated to us: I once performed the sunset prayer behind Fudayl ibn ʿIyāḍ while his son ʿAlī stood beside me. Fudayl recited, ‘Rivalry for worldly increase distracts you’ (Qurʾan 102:1). When he reached, ‘you shall surely see the Blazing Fire’ (102:6), ʿAlī collapsed.”