and this report is among the singular narrations of Abū Nasr al-Tammār; it is not known where he obtained it!

In fact, his statement establishes, at most, that he knew of no chain of transmission for this report. It is an established principle that not knowing of something’s existence does not mean knowing that it does not exist. Nevertheless, sweeping statements and general propositions carry weight with scholars when they come from someone of Imam Ibn al-Qayyim’s stature (may Allah have mercy on him), owing to their confidence in the eminence of his scholarship and the breadth of his knowledge.

This is what prompted the eminent scholar al-Saffārīnī (may Allah have mercy on him) to quote Ibn al-Qayyim’s fatwa approvingly, endorsing that conclusion, when discussing formulas of praise in his well-known book Ghidhā’ al-Albāb (Nourishment for the Minds) (1).

Several points deserve consideration here:

First: The hadith master Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) stated that this report has a chain of transmission through which Ibn al-Salāh narrates it in his Amālī (Dictated Sessions).

This chain is exceedingly difficult to find. Thus, after quoting Ibn al-Salāh’s assessment of it, Ibn Hajar remarked: “It would seem that he came across it, enabling him to describe it” (2).

Second: Abū Nasr al-Tammār actually narrates it from Muhammad ibn al-Nadr al-Hārithī, who narrates it from Adam (peace be upon him). The report is therefore not narrated by Abū Nasr directly from Adam (peace be upon him), as was stated; rather, there is an intermediary between them.

Third: The hadith master Ibn Rajab al-Hanbalī (may Allah have mercy on him) stated that the hadith in question has been narrated both as a report traced back to the Prophet and as one stopping at a Companion. He confined himself to that statement and did not