hadith transmission. Although he made mistakes in some of his hadiths, his errors were not so frequent as to warrant rejecting his narrations.”

Ibn Abī Hātim said in al-Jarh wa-al-Ta‘dīl:

“‘Abd Allāh ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal informed us in a letter he wrote to me: ‘I asked my father about ‘Āsim ibn Bahdalah. He replied: “Trustworthy—a righteous, good man, trustworthy. Al-A‘mash had a stronger memory than he did, and Shu‘bah preferred al-A‘mash to him for accuracy in hadith transmission.”’”

Ibn Abī Hātim said: “I asked my father about ‘Āsim ibn Bahdalah, and he replied: ‘He is acceptable. He narrated more hadiths than Abū Qays al-Awdī, is better known than he is, and I prefer him to Abū Qays.’”

He said: “My father was asked about ‘Āsim ibn Abī al-Najūd and ‘Abd al-Malik ibn ‘Umayr. He replied: ‘Give precedence to ‘Āsim over ‘Abd al-Malik. In my judgment, ‘Āsim is less inconsistent than ‘Abd al-Malik.’”

He said: “I asked Abū Zur‘ah about ‘Āsim ibn Bahdalah, and he replied: ‘Trustworthy.’ I mentioned this to my father, who said: ‘His standing does not warrant calling him trustworthy. Ibn ‘Ulayyah criticized him, saying: “It seems that everyone named ‘Āsim has a poor memory.”’”

Shaykh Ahmad Shākir said:

“This is the strongest criticism made of him. Is the hadith of such a man to be discarded, and this made a pretext for denying something established by the authentic Sunnah through multiple chains from many Companions? Scarcely anyone could doubt its authenticity, given the integrity and truthfulness with which it has been transmitted. Moreover, the possibility of error on the part of someone whose memory is somewhat deficient is dispelled by what is established through another who equals him in integrity and truthfulness and may have an even stronger memory. This is not how hadiths are judged defective.” End of quotation.

6- Abū Dāwūd said in his Sunan: Sahl ibn Tammām ibn Badī‘ narrated to us; ‘Imrān al-Qattān narrated to us, from Qatādah, from Abū Nadrah, from Abū Sa‘īd al-Khudrī, who said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“The Mahdī is from me. He will have a broad forehead and an aquiline nose. He will fill the earth with equity and justice just as it had been filled with oppression and injustice, and he will rule for seven years.”

Ibn al-Qayyim said in al-Manār al-Munīf: “Abū Dāwūd narrated it with a good chain of transmission.” It was included in Masābīh al-Sunnah in the section on good hadiths. Al-Albānī said in his verification of the hadiths of al-Mishkāh: “Its chain of transmission is good.” Al-Suyūtī marked it as authentic in al-Jāmi‘ al-Saghīr.

7- Ibn Mājah said in his Sunan: Muhammad ibn Yahyā and Ahmad ibn Yūsuf narrated to us, both saying: ‘Abd al-Razzāq narrated to us, from Sufyān al-Thawrī, from Khālid al-Hadhdhā’, from Abū Qilābah, from Abū Asmā’ al-Rahabī, from Thawbān, who said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Three men will fight over your treasure, each the son of a caliph, but it will fall to none of them. Then black banners will emerge from the east, and they will slaughter you as no people have ever done before.”

—Then he mentioned something I do not remember—and said:

“When you see him, pledge allegiance to him, even if you must crawl over snow, for he is Allah’s caliph, the Mahdī.”

Shaykh Muhammad Fu’ād ‘Abd al-Bāqī said in his notes on Sunan Ibn Mājah: “Al-Zawā’id states: ‘This is an authentic chain of transmission; its narrators are trustworthy. Al-Hākim narrated it in al-Mustadrak and said: “It is authentic according to the criteria of al-Bukhārī and Muslim.”’” End of quotation.

The hadith master Ibn Kathīr included this hadith with its chain of transmission in his book al-Fitan wa-al-Malāhim and said: “This is a strong, authentic chain of transmission.” He then cited