Weak. Abū Dāwūd narrated it (3907): Musaddad narrated to us: Yahyā narrated to us: Awf narrated to us: Hayyān narrated to us—someone other than Musaddad said, “Hayyān ibn al-Alā”—Qatan ibn Qabīsa narrated to us, from his father, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).

Ibn Hibbān also narrated it (1426) by way of Hammād ibn Zayd, from Awf, from Habbān(1) ibn Mukhāriq Abū Yalā, from Qatan, with the same chain and report.

Ahmad said (60/5): Muhammad ibn Jafar narrated to us: Awf narrated to us, from Hayyān: Qatan narrated to me—with the same chain and report. He also said: Rawh narrated to us: Awf narrated to us, from Hayyān Abū al-Alā—with the same chain and report.

Abū Ishāq al-Harbī said in Gharīb al-Hadīth (2/203/5): Hawdha narrated to us: Awf narrated to us, from Hayyān ibn Umayr, from Qatan—with the same chain and report.

I say: The transmitters thus differed over its chain from Awf—namely, Ibn Abī Jamīla al-Arābī. Some called him Hayyān without giving his lineage; some called him Hayyān Abū al-Alā; some called him Hayyān ibn Umayr; and another called him Habbān ibn Mukhāriq.

This is a serious inconsistency, indicating that the narrator neither retained nor accurately preserved the report, and it therefore constitutes evidence that the hadith is weak. Nevertheless, some of these divergent versions can be reconciled as referring to one person: Hayyān Abū al-Alā is Hayyān ibn Umayr Abū al-Alā al-Basrī al-Qaysī, who is trustworthy, as al-Nasā’ī and Ibn Hibbān stated. However, Ishāq ibn Mansūr related from Ahmad and Yahyā that he was not Ibn Umayr—meaning the narrator of this hadith. I say: The others are unknown. Allah knows best.

(Note) The hadith is not found in al-Nasā’ī’s al-Sunan al-Sughrā. Rather, he narrated it in al-Tafsīr, as stated by al-Munāwī; al-Tafsīr is one of the books comprising al-Nasā’ī’s al-Sunan al-Kubrā, so take note. He then quoted al-Nawawī, after attributing it to Abū Dāwūd, as saying: “Its chain of transmission is good.”