Anas said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, ‘Here I am for an ʿUmrah and a Hajj.’”(1) This is a three-link chain that meets the conditions of the two Shaykhs, yet neither of them—nor any other compiler—recorded it through this route.
Muslim,(2) however, transmitted it from Yaḥyā ibn Yaḥyā, from Hushaym, from Yaḥyā ibn Abī Isḥāq, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Ṣuhayb, and Ḥumayd, all of whom said that they heard Anas ibn Mālik say: “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declare both rites together, chanting, ‘Here I am for an ʿUmrah and a Hajj, here I am for an ʿUmrah and a Hajj.’”
Imām Aḥmad(3) said: “Yaʿmar ibn Bishr(4) narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us; Ḥumayd al-Ṭawīl informed us, from Anas ibn Mālik, who said: ‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ drove many sacrificial camels and proclaimed, “Here I am for an ʿUmrah and a Hajj,” while I was standing by the left thigh of his she-camel.’” Aḥmad alone transmits it through this chain as well.
- Ḥumayd ibn Hilāq al-ʿAdawī al-Baṣrī on his authority. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Bazzār said in his Musnad: “Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Wahhāb narrated to us; from Ayyūb, from Abū Qilābah, from Anas ibn Mālik….” ḥ(5) “Salamah ibn Shabīb(6) also narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Razzaq narrated to us; Maʿmar informed us, from Ayyūb, from Abū Qilābah and Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl, from Anas, who said: ‘I was riding pillion behind Abū Ṭalḥah, and his knee was touching the knee of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while he was intoning the talbiyah for both Hajj and ʿUmrah.’”
This chain is sound and robust, satisfying the criteria of authenticity, yet it was not included by the two Shaykhs. Al-Bazzār interpreted the narration to mean that it was Abū Ṭalḥah who was reciting the talbiyah for Hajj and ʿUmrah, adding that the Prophet ﷺ did not object. That interpretation is open to question and unnecessary, for the report reaches us through multiple routes from Anas—as seen earlier and as will appear—while the rule is that a pronoun returns to the nearest antecedent, which in this case yields the stronger meaning. Allah knows best. A clear refutation of this interpretation will come in the narration of Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd from Anas.(9)