will bring about reconciliation through him between two great parties of the Muslims).

Ahmad recorded the ḥadīth, saying: “ʿAffān narrated to us; Mubārak ibn Faḍālah narrated to us, from al-Ḥasan, who said: Abū Bakrah informed me that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to…,” and so forth.

He later recorded it in another place: “Hāshim narrated to us; al-Mubārak narrated to us; al-Ḥasan narrated to us; Abū Bakrah [reported it],” with wording similar to the foregoing. That version contains the first and third supplementary phrases.

Al-Ṭayālisī likewise transmitted it, saying: “Ibn Faḍālah narrated to us…,” in similar terms; his rendition carries the second supplementary phrase.

This chain is sound and contiguous, based on direct audition.

Through this same route al-Bayhaqī reproduced it—in Dalāʾil—and that version includes the final supplementary phrase, as mentioned in Fatḥ.

The ḥadīth has also reached us through other routes, in abridged form, from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī:

1 – Isrāʾīl Abū Mūsā said: “I heard al-Ḥasan say, ‘I heard Abū Bakrah say: I saw the Messenger of Allah on the pulpit with al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī beside him. The Prophet would face the people for a moment and then turn toward him, saying, “This son of mine is a leader, and perhaps Allah…,”’” and so on.

Al-Bukhārī and al-Nasāʾī both recorded this version—and it is they who preserve the final supplementary wording—as did Ahmad.