—the ḥadith master—narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Thaqafī narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Karāmah narrated to us; Khālid ibn Makhlad narrated to us, from Sulaymān ibn Bilāl, who said, “Shurayk informed me, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Abū Hurayrah, who reported:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘Allah said: Whoever shows hostility to a walī (devoted servant) of Mine has declared war on Me.’ He then mentioned the rest of the ḥadith.
This report is exceedingly singular; its entire chain hinges on Ibn Karāmah. Al-Bukhārī (1) transmitted it from him, and a similar wording is also related through the isnād of ʿAbd al-Wāḥid, from his client ʿUrwah, from ʿĀʾishah (2).
2 – al-ʿAssāl, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Iṣbahānī *
son of Sulaymān ibn Muḥammad the judge, Abū Aḥmad.
(1) 11/292, 297, in the section al-Riqaq, chapter “Humility.” Muhammad ibn ʿUthman ibn Karama is trustworthy, but in Hilyat al-Awliyaʾ 1/4 his name is mistakenly given as Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Karama. The real flaw in the isnad lies with his teacher Khalid ibn Mukhallad. In his entry on Khalid in Mizanu l-Iʿtidal 1/641, the author quotes Ahmad: “He has objectionable reports (munkarāt),” Abu Hatim: “He is not a reliable proof,” and Ibn Saʿd: “His hadith is munkar.” He then cites this very hadith and comments: “It is extremely rare (gharib). Were it not for the awe inspired by the Sahih, scholars would have counted it among the denounced narrations of Khalid ibn Mukhallad, because of its unusual wording and because it is solely transmitted by Sharik, who is not a hadith memoriser (hafiz).” I add: Khalid is also the transmitter of the miʿraj narrative in which he introduced additions and omissions, reversed the order of events, and reported unique details for which he has no corroboration.
(2) Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar cites the report in Fath al-Bari 11/292, attributing it to Ahmad (Kitab al-Zuhd), Ibn Abi al-Dunya, Abu Nuʿaym (Hilyat al-Awliyaʾ 1/5) and al-Bayhaqi (Kitab al-Zuhd). Ibn ʿAdi notes that ʿAbd al-Wahid alone relates it from ʿUrwa, and al-Bukhari judged him “munkar al-hadith.” Yet al-Tabarani records it through Yaʿqub ibn Mujahid from ʿUrwa, adding: “No one narrated it from ʿUrwa except Yaʿqub and ʿAbd al-Wahid.” Related material exists: from Abu Umama (al-Tabarani, al-Bayhaqi, with a weak chain); from ʿAli (al-Ismaʿili, Musnad ʿAli); from Ibn ʿAbbas (al-Tabarani), both weak; and from Anas (Abu Yaʿla, al-Bazzar, al-Tabarani), also weak. See further Fath al-Bari 11/293; Jamiʿ al-ʿUlum wa-l-Hikam, p. 338; Majmaʿ al-Zawaʾid 10/270, 296.
(*) Bibliographic sources on the narrator: Dhikr Akhbar Isfahan 2/283; Tarikh Baghdad 1/270; al-Ansab 8/447; Tadhkirat al-Huffaz 3/886-889; al-ʿIbar 2/282-283; al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya 11/237; al-Wafi bi-l-Wafayat 2/41; al-Nujum al-Zahira 3/325; Tabaqat al-Huffaz 361-362; and others.