“I found written in my copy: ‘ʿAmmār ibn Anas,’ but he is actually ʿImrān ibn Anas al-Makkī. Al-Bukhārī mentioned him in al-Tārīkh, from Abū Salām, from Yahyā ibn Wādih, who heard ʿImrān. Al-Bukhārī said: ‘He is not corroborated in this.’ ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Rufayʿ also narrated it from Ibn Abī Mulayka, from ʿAbdullāh ibn Wahb, from Kaʿb, as Kaʿb’s own statement; this is the sounder version.”

439—(And the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says: “The passing away of this world is less grave in Allah’s sight than the killing of a Muslim man.” Muslim, al-Nasāʾī, and al-Tirmidhī.) p. 315.

Sound. Al-Nasāʾī (163/2) and al-Tirmidhī (262/1) narrated it through Ibn Abī ʿAdī, from Shuʿba, from Yaʿlā ibn ʿAtāʾ, from his father, from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr, who reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said it, and he then cited the hadith. Al-Tirmidhī subsequently narrated a similar version through Muhammad ibn Jaʿfar, who said, “Shuʿba narrated it to us,” except that he did not trace it back to the Prophet. He said, “This is sounder than the hadith of Ibn Abī ʿAdī.”

I say: Al-Nasāʾī likewise narrated it through Muhammad. He then narrated it through Mansūr, from Yaʿlā ibn ʿAtāʾ, stopping at ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr. This supports al-Tirmidhī’s statement that the version stopping at the Companion is sounder. The version traced back to the Prophet, however—whose chain is sound—is supported by another route recorded by al-Nasāʾī: from Ibn Ishāq, from Ibrāhīm ibn Muhājir, from Ismāʿīl, the freedman of ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr, from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀs, traced back to the Prophet. Al-Nasāʾī said, “Ibrāhīm ibn Muhājir is not strong” (1).

It also has a corroborating report in al-Nasāʾī from Burayda, traced back to the Prophet, with a fair chain; and another in Ibn Mājah (2619), from al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib. Al-Mundhirī said in al-Targhīb (202/3), “Its chain is fair.” I say: Its chain contains al-Walīd ibn Muslim, who practised concealment by levelling the chain and narrated it using the non-explicit wording “from.” Nevertheless, considering all the evidence mentioned above, the hadith is sound, if Allah wills.