al-Targhīb (3/225)! Al-Suyūtī, however, confined himself in al-Jāmi al-Saghīr to attributing it to Muslim alone, and he was correct. Al-Munāwī objected to this, saying: “The author’s presentation apparently indicates that this is one of the reports narrated by Muslim alone rather than by al-Bukhārī. In this, he followed al-Tabarī, who attributed it specifically to Muslim.” He added: “This is incorrect, for al-Humaydī and others included it among the reports on which al-Bukhārī and Muslim agreed.”
I say: The correct view is the detailed distinction I have set out, and praise be to Allah for granting success.
The first part of the hadith has corroborating reports, including one from Abdullah ibn Amr, traced back to the Prophet: “The bond of kinship is suspended from the Throne. The one who maintains kinship is not merely one who reciprocates; rather, the one who truly maintains kinship is he who restores the bond when his relatives sever it.” Ahmad narrated it (2/163, 193) through Fitr, from Mujāhid, from Abdullah ibn Amr.
I say: This chain is authentic by al-Bukhārī’s criterion. He also narrated it in his Sahīh (4/113) and al-Adab al-Mufrad (68), without its first part. That version was also narrated by Ahmad (2/190) through another route from Mujāhid with the same report. Ibn Hibbān narrated it through the first route, as cited in al-Zawā’id (2034). The hadith master Ibn Hajar commented that it was in Sahīh al-Bukhārī, meaning that there was no reason to include it in al-Zawā’id. In saying this, may Allah Most High have mercy on him, he overlooked the fact that the version in al-Bukhārī does not contain the addition at its beginning. Remarkably, the author of al-Zawā’id himself pointed to this very fact by quoting only this addition from the hadith and omitting the rest, saying:
“The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said: ‘The bond of kinship is suspended from the Throne.’ I say: He then related the hadith.”
This indicates that the remainder of the hadith, which he did not quote, is in the Sahīh!
It has another route from Abdullah ibn Amr, traced back to the Prophet, with the wording:
“The bond of kinship is a closely intertwined branch from the Most Merciful. Whoever maintains it, Allah maintains him; and whoever severs it, Allah severs him. It has