“…‘It is a singular (gharīb) ḥadīth. Isrāʾīl has likewise transmitted it through Abū Ḥuṣayn, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Abū Hurayrah as a mawqūf report, without attributing it to the Prophet.’

I add: The same wording is also found mawqūf in the first chain. Imām Aḥmad recorded it through Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī, from Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, from Abū Hurayrah, who said—repeating exactly Abū Bakr’s phrasing, save that he added: ‘or in the resting-places of camels.’ This chain too is sound according to the criteria of al-Bukhārī and Muslim.

Now, Hishām ibn Ḥassān is trustworthy—indeed, one of the firmest transmitters from Ibn Sīrīn, as stated in al-Taqrīb—and he reported the narration as marfūʿ (traced back to the Prophet). Since attributing a report to the Prophet constitutes an additional detail, the rules of ḥadīth criticism require us to accept it. The same principle applies to the second line of transmission, that of Abū Ḥuṣayn → Abū Ṣāliḥ → Abū Hurayrah: Isrāʾīl related it mawqūf, whereas Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh related it marfūʿ. Both men are reliable, but Abū Bakr’s memory declined in his later years, so we cannot prefer his wording over that of Isrāʾīl—although, through the first chain, the ḥadīth is unquestionably authentic in its marfūʿ form. Our discussion here concerns only the second chain.

The report also enjoys corroboration from other Companions. Among these is the narration of ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir, which Aḥmad recorded through Yaḥyā ibn Abī ʿAmr al-Shaybānī—so reads the original manuscript, though the correct spelling is al-Saybānī with an undotted sīn—from his father, from ʿUqbah, in marfūʿ form that matches the mawqūf wording transmitted from Abū Hurayrah. This chain is ḥasan: all its transmitters are trustworthy except Abū ʿAmr al-Saybānī, and even he has been declared reliable.