Aḥmad also transmitted it through Ibn Numayr, from al-Aʿmash, who said: “I heard Abū Ẓabiyān relating from a man of the Anṣār, from Muʿādh ibn Jabal.” He said: “Muʿādh came back from Yemen and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, I saw men…,’” and he mentioned the same purport. The chain, however, turns upon an unidentified transmitter, and a report of this kind is not admissible as evidence—especially since reliable authorities disagree and state that the incident took place when Muʿādh returned from Syria; it is likewise narrated in that form.

Aḥmad further said: Ibrāhīm ibn Mahdī narrated to us; Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥusayn, from Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, from Muʿādh ibn Jabal, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to me, “The keys of Paradise are the testimony that there is no god but Allah.”

He also said: Wakīʿ narrated to us; Sufyān, from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, from Maymūn ibn Abī Shayb, from Muʿādh, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “O Muʿādh, follow up a bad deed with a good one—it will wipe it out—and deal with people with good character.” Wakīʿ remarked, “I found it in my notebook on the authority of Abū Dharr; that was the first audition.” On another occasion Sufyān reported it as being from Muʿādh.

Imam Aḥmad then said: Ismāʿīl narrated to us, from Layth, from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, from Maymūn ibn Abī Shayb, from Muʿādh, who said: I asked, “O Messenger of Allah, give me counsel.” He replied, “Fear Allah wherever you may be.” I said, “Increase me.” He said, “Follow up a bad deed with a good one—it will erase it.” I said, “Increase me.” He said, “Treat people with a good character.”

Al-Tirmidhī likewise recorded it in his Jāmiʿ through Maḥmūd ibn Ghaylān, from Wakīʿ, from Sufyān al-Thawrī, and said: “Hasan.”

Our shaykh in al-Aṭrāf said: It is also corroborated by Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ, from Layth ibn Abī Sulaym, and by al-Aʿmash, from Ḥabīb, with the same wording.