He then reproduced the report and, in keeping with his usual practice, did not label it weak.

Among the merits of the Prophet’s Mosque is his saying: “Whoever comes to this mosque of mine for no reason except to attain some good—whether to learn it or to teach it—will have the rank of one who fights in the path of Allah; but whoever comes for anything else is like a man who only looks at someone else’s possessions.”

This ḥadīth was recorded by Ibn Mājah (1/100–101), al-Ḥākim (1/91), and Aḥmad (2/418, 526) through the chain of Abū Ṣakhr Ḥumayd ibn Ṣakhr al-Kharrāṭ, who reported that Saʿīd al-Maqburī told him he had heard Abū Hurayrah say that he heard the Messenger of Allah say it—and the ḥadīth was then cited in full. Al-Ḥākim remarked, “Sound according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs,” and al-Dhahabī agreed with him.

In fact, it satisfies only Muslim’s criterion, for Ḥumayd ibn Ṣakhr—also called Ibn Ziyād—does not appear in al-Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ; al-Bukhārī mentions him only in al-Adab al-Mufrad. Hence the author of al-Zawāʾid stated: “Its chain is sound according to Muslim’s criterion. The ḥāfiẓ’s claim that it meets the criteria of both Shaykhs is mistaken, for al-Bukhārī did not rely on Ḥumayd ibn Ṣakhr in his Ṣaḥīḥ; he cited him solely in al-Adab al-Mufrad, whereas Muslim did rely on him.”

I add: al-Shawkānī also slipped when he said (2/132), “Ḥumayd ibn Ṣakhr is Ḥumayd al-Ṭawīl, the eminent imām,” for Ḥumayd al-Ṭawīl is someone else—namely, Ḥumayd ibn Abī Ḥumayd Abū ʿUbaydah al-Ṭawīl—who belongs to a higher tier than the narrator under discussion.