It was also recorded by Abū Dāwūd (1) through the transmission of Yaḥyā.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad likewise related it in the additional material to the Musnad, on the authority of Yaḥyā, and it is listed among his single-chain reports.
We have further transmitted it in al-Bukhārī: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn told me; Ḥajjāj narrated to us; Ibn Jurayj said:
Ibn Abī Mulaykah stated, “There had been something between the two of them (2), so I went early to Ibn ʿAbbās and asked, ‘Do you intend to fight Ibn al-Zubayr and thereby make lawful what Allah has forbidden?’ He replied, ‘Allah forbid!’ ”
He went on to mention the rest of the account, which appears in the commentary on Sūrat Barāʾah (3).
I take the view that the ʿAbd Allāh mentioned here is al-Musnadī (4).
I read this before Abū al-Faḍl Aḥmad ibn Hibat Allah, who reported from Abū Rūḥ al-Harawī: Tamīm ibn Abī Saʿīd informed us in the year 528 AH; Abū Saʿd Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Naḥwī informed us; Abū ʿAmr ibn Ḥamdān informed us; Abū Yaʿlā Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Mawṣilī informed us; Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn narrated to us; Ghundar related from Shuʿbah, from al-Aʿmash, from Abū al-Ḍuḥā, from Masrūq, from ʿAbd Allāh regarding Allah’s words, “By those who wrench out (the souls) with force” (al-Nāziʿāt 79:1). He said, “It refers to the angels.” (5)
(1) No. 3460 in the Book of Sales, chapter “The Merit of iqala (mutual cancellation of a sale).” Also transmitted by Ahmad 2/252, Ibn Majah 2199, and al-Bayhaqi 6/27. Its chain is sound; Ibn Hibban (no. 1103) and al-Hakim 2/45 declared it sahih, and al-Dhahabi concurred. The grading was likewise affirmed by Ibn Daqiq al-‘Id and Ibn Hazm.
Note: In the printed Musnad of Ahmad the isnad begins, “ ‘Abd Allah narrated to us; my father narrated to us.” This wording belongs to the Musnad itself and is not one of the supplementary narrations added by the son, contrary to what the author states; the phrase “my father” (abi) is probably a later intrusion in the printed text.
(2) In this version the dual pronoun is reused as a concise reference to two persons not explicitly named; the intention is Ibn ‘Abbas and Ibn al-Zubayr, as the author made explicit in the previous narration.
(3) Reported by al-Bukhari 8/246 (Book of Tafsir), under the heading of the verse: “He was the second of the two when they were in the cave” (Q 9:40).
(4) The narrator is ‘Abd Allah b. Muhammad b. ‘Abd Allah b. Ja‘far al-Ju‘fi, Abu Ja‘far al-Bukhari, known as al-Musnadi (with a short vowel on the n). He was a trustworthy hadith scholar and the compiler of a Musnad collection.
(5) The chain is sound. Al-Suyuti, in ad-Durr 6/311, attributes the report to Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abi Hatim. It is also the opinion of Ibn ‘Abbas, Masruq, Sa‘id b. Jubayr, Abu Salih, and Abu al-Duha.