Section Three
Tracing the Sources of the Narrative’s Passages

Nevertheless, most of this hadith is authentic, its contents having been transmitted separately in other hadiths, apart from a few passages for which I have found nothing to corroborate or strengthen them, as will be explained. To make this clearer to the reader and facilitate my tracing of its sources, I have divided it into consecutively numbered passages. I say:

1 – This passage appears in several hadiths:

The first: Hishām ibn ʿĀmir narrated from the Prophet in the following words:

“From the creation of Adam until the coming of the Hour, there is no created being greater than the Dajjāl.” (In another version: “no trial greater than the trial of the Dajjāl.”)

Muslim (8/207), al-Hākim (4/528), and Ahmad (4/20 and 21) recorded it. The alternative wording is one of Ahmad’s two versions and is also al-Hākim’s version, which adds:

“in Allah’s sight.”

Al-Hākim said:

“Authentic according to al-Bukhārī’s criteria, but neither al-Bukhārī nor Muslim recorded it.”

That is what he said. Perhaps he meant the particular wording indicated above; otherwise, Muslim did record it, as I have mentioned. Al-Dānī also recorded it (176/2–177/1), adding:

“He has eaten food and walked in the marketplaces.”