= Reported by Malik, by al-Hakim Abu Ahmad in al-Kuna, and by several others. Al-Khalili comments: “Qarad is an early narrator; he is the only one who transmits from al-Layth this uncorroborated hadith”—i.e., the present report. (1) The isnad is weak because the narrator in question is unreliable. The same tradition is also found in al-Bukhari, 3/310 (Book of Hajj, chapter: The Prophet’s statement ‘al-Aqiq is a blessed valley’), in Abu Dawud (no. 1800), and in Ahmad, 1/24, through several chains from al-Awza‘i: “Yahya b. Abi Kathir told me, ‘Ikrima told me that he heard Ibn Abbas say: ‘Umar said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the valley of al-Aqiq say: ‘Last night a messenger from my Lord came to me and said: Pray in this blessed valley and declare: ‘an umrah along with a hajj.’’’”