I say:
This is an obvious lie, for Maslama did not live in Abū Saʿīd’s time. Indeed, more than a hundred years separated them—nearly two hundred, in fact.
They then said:
“Shaykh Abū Saʿīd al-Kharrāz received the cloak from Shaykh Abū Muhammad al-ʿAnsī, and al-ʿAnsī received it from Shaykh ʿAlī ibn ʿAlīl al-Ramlī. Shaykh ʿAlī ibn ʿAlīl received it from his father, Shaykh ʿAlīl al-Ramlī, and Shaykh ʿAlīl received the cloak from Shaykh ʿAmmār al-Saʿdī. Shaykh ʿAmmār al-Saʿdī received the cloak from Shaykh Yūsuf al-Ghassānī, and Shaykh Yūsuf al-Ghassānī received it from his father, Shaykh Yaʿqūb al-Ghassānī. Shaykh Yaʿqūb al-Ghassānī received the cloak from the Commander of the Faithful, ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb, on the day he addressed the people at al-Jābiya. ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb received the cloak from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, received the cloak from Gabriel, and Gabriel received it from Allah Most High.”
I say:
Anyone with even the slightest knowledge knows that the claims that ʿUmar wore the cloak and invested others with it, and that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, wore it and invested others with it, are false. As for the chain mentioned between Abū Saʿīd and ʿUmar, it is unknown. I know of no mention of these men in books on asceticism and spiritual exhortation, nor in books of hadith and learning. It is possible that some of them were shaykhs, and that someone who did not know when they lived fabricated this chain and attributed it to them. Allah knows best the truth about them.