It was recorded by al-Bukhari in al-Adab al-Mufrad 1265, by Ibn Abī Shaybah 6 / 310, by Ibn Jarīr in his Tafsīr 21 / 40, by Ibn Abī al-Dunyā in Dhamm al-Malāhī, and by al-Bayhaqī in al-Sunan 10 / 221 and 223, all through various chains that go back to him.
- The second of them is ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd. When he was asked about the verse just mentioned, he replied, “It is singing—by Him besides Whom there is no deity,” repeating the phrase three times.
This statement was also recorded by Ibn Abī Shaybah, as well as by Ibn Jarīr, Ibn Abī al-Dunyā, and al-Ḥākim 2 / 411; it was transmitted from al-Ḥākim by al-Bayhaqī and in Shuʿab al-Īmān 4 / 278 / 5096, and by Ibn al-Jawzī in Talbīs Iblīs, p. 246. Al-Ḥākim declared its chain authentic; al-Dhahabī concurred, and it is as they both affirmed. Ibn al-Qayyim likewise graded it sound.
- The third is ʿIkrimah. Shuʿayb ibn Yasār said, “I asked ʿIkrimah about the phrase ﴿lahw al-ḥadīth﴾ (‘idle talk’), and he answered, ‘It is singing.’”
Al-Bukhārī recorded this in al-Tārīkh 2 / 2 / 217, and it was likewise narrated by Ibn Jarīr, Ibn Abī Shaybah, and Ibn Abī al-Dunyā—the wording is his—as well as through him by al-Bayhaqī. Its transmitters are trustworthy except for this Shuʿayb; two reliable authorities narrated from him, and Ibn Ḥibbān declared him reliable (4 / 355). Accordingly, its chain is sound, God willing—especially since Usāmah ibn Zayd corroborated it in the report recorded by Ibn Abī Shaybah no. 1175 and by Ibn Jarīr 21 / 4140.