His statement: “4 – The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ‘ṣanāʾiʿ al-maʿrūf (acts of kindness) ward off an evil end; al-ṣadaqah khufyatan (almsgiving done in secret) extinguishes the Lord’s wrath; ṣilat al-raḥim (maintaining the bonds of kinship) increases one’s lifespan; every good deed is charity; the people of kindness in this world will be the people of kindness in the Hereafter, while the people of wrongdoing in this world will be the people of wrongdoing in the Hereafter; and the first to enter Paradise will be the people of kindness.’” Al-Ṭabarānī related it in al-Awsat, and al-Munḏhirī “remained silent” about it.

I say: Not so. Al-Munḏhirī did not keep silent; rather, he declared it weak, for he prefaced it with the words: “It is reported from Umm Salamah — may Allah be pleased with her — that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said…,” and then quoted it. See the Introduction.

Al-Haythamī has pinpointed the defect of the report, stating in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid 3/115: “…In its chain is ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Walīd al-Waṣāfī, and he is weak.”

Accordingly, al-ʿAzīzī, in his commentary on al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr, explicitly graded the ḥadith weak. One should therefore not be misled by al-Suyūṭī’s symbol indicating its soundness, for the matter is as we clarified in the Introduction.

Still, it appears that most of the report is established through other chains. The opening section up to the words “increases one’s lifespan” was transmitted by al-Ṭabarānī in al-Kabīr from Abū Umāmah, and both al-Munḏhirī and al-Haythamī rated that chain ḥasan. Al-Ṭabarānī also narrated it in al-Awsat from Muʿāwiyah ibn Ḥaydah; al-Haythamī (8/194) comments: “Its chain contains Aṣbagh, who is unknown; the remaining narrators are deemed reliable, though there is some difference of opinion about them.”

Moreover, the Two Shaykhs and others recorded—on the authority of Anas and traced back to the Prophet—the saying: “Whoever would like his provision to be expanded for him and his lifespan prolonged should maintain ties of kinship.” As for the sentence, “Every good deed is charity,” that portion is sound and has been transmitted by a number of Companions.