and Jibrīl, myself, and Muʿāwiyah.” This report is even more objectionable than the ones before it and its chain of transmission is weaker.

Imām Aḥmad said: “ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī narrated to us, from Muʿāwiyah—meaning Ibn Ṣāliḥ—from Yūnus ibn Sayf, from al-Ḥārith ibn Ziyād, from Abū Ruhm, from al-ʿIrbaḍ ibn Sāriyah al-Sulamī, who said: ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, invite us to the pre-dawn meal in Ramadan, saying, “Come to the blessed breakfast.” I then heard him supplicate: “O Allah, teach Muʿāwiyah the Book and arithmetic, and protect him from punishment.”’ Aḥmad alone related it (1).

Ibn Jarīr also transmitted it through Ibn Mahdī, and it was likewise narrated by Asad ibn Mūsā, Bishr ibn al-Sarī, and ʿAbd Allah ibn Ṣāliḥ [ʿan Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ] (2) with the same chain. In Bishr ibn al-Sarī’s version it adds: “and admit him into Paradise.”

Ibn ʿAdī and others narrated, through ʿUthmān ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Jumaḥī, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “O Allah, teach Muʿāwiyah the Book and arithmetic, and protect him from punishment” (3).

Muḥammad ibn Saʿd said: “Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb and al-Ḥasan (4) ibn Mūsā al-Ashyab told us: Abū Hilāl Muḥammad ibn Sulaym narrated to us; Jabhala ibn ʿAṭiyyah narrated to us, from Maslamah ibn Mukhallad.” Al-Ashyab (5) added: “Abū Hilāl— or from a man—from Maslamah ibn Mukhallad,” while Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb said: “or Maslamah related it from a man: that he saw Muʿāwiyah eating, whereupon he said to ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, ‘This cousin of yours is quite the glutton (6).’ He replied, ‘Even though I say that to you, I have heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: “O Allah, teach him the Book, establish him firmly in the land, and protect him from punishment.”’ (7)”

More than one of the Successors transmitted it in mursal form, among them: al-Zuhrī, ʿUrwah ibn Ruwaym, Ḥarīz (8) ibn ʿUthmān al-Raḥabī of Ḥimṣ, and Yūnus ibn Maysarah ibn Ḥalbas.

Al-Ṭabarānī said: “Abū Zurʿah and Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Ḥamzah, both Damascenes, narrated to us: Abū Mus-hir narrated to us; Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz narrated to us, from Rabīʿah ibn Yazīd, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAmīrah al-Muzanī—who was one of the Prophet’s Companions—that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said to Muʿāwiyah: “O Allah, teach him the Book and arithmetic, and protect him from punishment” (9).”

Ibn ʿAsākir said: “This is odd; the narration that is reliably preserved with this chain is the ʿIrbaḍ report mentioned earlier.” He then transmitted it through another route