by al-Hāfiz al-Mundhirī. His assessment that its chain is strong is open to question, for al-Haythamī said in al-Majma (5/117): “Al-Bazzār narrated it, and its narrators are narrators of the Sahīh, apart from Uqba ibn Sinān, who is weak.”

I then began to doubt this grading as weak when I consulted al-Jarh wa al-Tadīl and found that it mentions (13/1/311) two men, each named Uqba ibn Sinān. For the first, it provided no further lineage or kunyah, and said: “He narrated from Abū Khālid. Abd al-Salām ibn Harb and Hakīm ibn Muhammad narrated from him.” It mentioned neither criticism nor accreditation concerning him. The other entry reads: “Uqba ibn Sinān ibn Uqba ibn Sinān . . . al-Hadādī, a Basran who narrated from Ghassān ibn Mudar and Uthmān ibn Uthmān al-Ghatafānī. My father heard from him during his third journey. My father was asked about him and replied: ‘Truthful.’”

Immediately before these two, it mentioned Uqba ibn Sayyār, Abū al-Jallās, who is trustworthy by unanimous agreement. Al-Tahdhīb states that he is also called Ibn Sinān. I found no other narrator named Uqba ibn Sinān, and, as you can see, none of these men was graded weak. At most, the first is of unknown status, and someone in his position is not ordinarily called “weak,” while the other two are trustworthy. Which of them, then, is the narrator of this hadith? That cannot be determined until the chain in al-Bazzār’s book is examined. The book remains unpublished, though I seem to recall hearing that it is now being printed in Pakistan or India.

Nevertheless, the hadith is authentic. It has been transmitted through three routes from Abū Hurayra, which I documented in al-Irwā (2006).

286—(The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “One who practices soothsaying, seeks a decision by lot—that is, with divining arrows—or turns back from a journey because of an ill omen will never (1) attain the highest ranks.” Al-Tabarānī narrated it through two chains, the narrators in one of which are trustworthy.) p. 231