through any route.’ Such was his statement, yet he missed the mark.

Ibn Ḥajar further comments in Fatḥ al-Bārī: “Its transmitters are all trustworthy, but there is disagreement over whether the chain is connected or mursal; even so, al-Ḥākim and Ibn Ḥibbān declared it authentic.”

For that reason Ibn Ḥazm regarded the ḥadith as sound and rebutted those who faulted it on the grounds of irsāl.

The report also has another route through Yaḥyā al-Anṣārī that is entirely free of these discrepancies. Al-Ḥākim—and, following him, al-Bayhaqī—recorded it with the isnād: ʿUmārah ibn Ghaziyyah → Yaḥyā ibn ʿUmārah al-Anṣārī → Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, as a marfūʿ narration. This chain is authentic according to Muslim’s criteria.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ adds: “It also has corroborating reports. Among them is the marfūʿ ḥadith of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, ‘He forbade praying in the graveyard,’ recorded by Ibn Ḥibbān; and the ḥadith of ʿAlī, ‘My Beloved forbade me to pray in the graveyard,’ recorded by Abū Dāwūd.”

I say: We shall discuss the ḥadith of ʿAlī shortly, God willing. Another supporting narration is the ḥadith of Anas: the Prophet ﷺ forbade praying among the graves. Al-Haythamī remarks, “Al-Bazzār transmitted it, and its narrators are the men of the Ṣaḥīḥ.”

After writing the above I found that al-Manāwī, in Fayḍ al-Qadīr, quotes Ibn Ḥibbān as authenticating the ḥadith, and he reports from Ibn Taymiyyah that he said: