I reply: He declared it “a good and singular (gharīb) ḥadith.” That is what he said, yet the chain contains Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥāṭib, whose status is unknown. Ibn Ḥibbān deemed him reliable according to his usual lenient methodology, and Shaykh Aḥmad Shākir—may Allah have mercy on him—was taken in by that, as he often was, and therefore ruled the ḥadith authentic! Imām Mālik, however, transmitted it only as a disconnected report (balāgh) traced back to the words of Jesus, peace be upon him. I have discussed the issue in detail in Silsilat al-Aḥādīth al-Ḍaʿīfah, no. 920.
18 – (1625) “From Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both): that some people …”
Such is the wording found here, which implies the report belongs to Ibn ʿUmar’s own musnad—that he himself related what the people said to him. This is an error that arose through paraphrasing; the correct version belongs to the musnad of Ibn ʿUmar’s grandson, Muḥammad ibn Zayd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar. He is the one who narrated it, saying, “Some people said to Ibn ʿUmar …” This is how the ḥadith appears in al-Bukhārī (13/149, Fatḥ al-Bārī), and this is exactly how the author, may Allah have mercy upon him, already cited it above under no. 1549.
Moreover, attributing the ḥadith in the wording just quoted to al-Bukhārī is open to objection on two counts:
- Al-Bukhārī does not include the phrase “during the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ”; that phrase occurs only in the version of al-Ṭayālisī.
- In al-Bukhārī the wording is “our ruler (sulṭānunā)” in the singular, whereas the wording “our rulers (salāṭīnina)” in the plural is likewise that of al-Ṭayālisī, as al-Ḥāfiẓ explained in Fatḥ al-Bārī—consult it if you wish.
19 – (1765) “From Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) … reported by al-Tirmidhī, who said: ‘A good and sound ḥadith.’”
That is what my copy records—perhaps following a particular manuscript of al-Tirmidhī. Otherwise, the Būlāq edition (1/116) reads simply “a good ḥadith,” and its margin notes that another manuscript has, in place of “ḥasan,” the word “gharīb.”