773 – Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The neighbor whose dwelling adjoins the house has the strongest claim to that house.” It was narrated by al-Nasāʾī and judged authentic by Ibn Ḥibbān, yet it carries a hidden defect. (1)

Degree of authenticity:
This ḥadīth is defective; the correct chain is from Samurah ibn Jundub.

Al-Albānī summarized the matter as follows: the report comes through two lines of transmission:

1. Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī → Samurah ibn Jundub. It was recorded by Abū Dāwūd (3517), al-Tirmidhī (1368), al-Bayhaqī, Aḥmad, and others, and it is ṣaḥīḥ (sound).
2. ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus → Saʿīd → Qatādah → Anas, traced back to the Prophet. It was recorded by Ibn Ḥibbān and al-Ḍiyāʾ, and al-Tirmidhī transmitted it in summary form, adding: “The report of al-Ḥasan from Samurah is what the scholars consider sound; we know the report of Qatādah from Anas only through ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus.”

Al-Dāraquṭnī said: “The version from al-Ḥasan on the authority of Samurah is the correct one,” and that is the sound view.