“He is not to be cited as proof.” Ibn ʿAdī said, “Most of his reports are sound, though some are objectionable.” He then quoted this very narration, noting that it contains an irregularity, and al-Dhahabī commented, “As for Abū al-ʿAlāʾ, I do not know who he is.”

Al-Tirmidhī also transmitted the ḥadīth through another chain from Bilāl and stated, “It is not sound because of its isnād.” I add: its flaw is that it passes through Muḥammad ibn Saʿīd—who was executed on the cross—for he is a liar. Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ said, “He fabricated four thousand ḥadīths.”

Nevertheless, the narration minus its final clause—“and it drives illness from the body”—is ḥasan or ṣaḥīḥ. Al-Tirmidhī, al-Ḥākim, and others reported it from Abū Umāmah; al-Ḥākim judged it sound, al-Dhahabī agreed, and it was graded ḥasan by al-Baghawī and al-Ḥāfiẓ al-ʿIrāqī. Had the author chosen this version, he would have been correct. It is documented in Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl 452 and Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ 1227.

He then said: 3. Sahl ibn Saʿd reported that Gabriel came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, “O Muḥammad, live as long as you wish, for you will die … and know that a person’s honor is in his night prayer, and his dignity is in doing without people.”

I say: The judgment on this report is the same as the one before it. Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it, and in its chain is Zāfir ibn Sulaymān, who is reliable yet prone to many errors, as stated in al-Taqrīb. Al-ʿUqaylī said concerning this ḥadīth: