and the second flaw is the weakness of Muslim ibn Khālid—al-Zanjī. The author gives his biography as well, quoting the verdicts of the leading critics, most of whom declare him weak because of his errors. He then cited several of Muslim’s narrations and concluded the entry by saying, “It is by means of reports such as these that a man’s standing is either upheld or undermined.” Ibn Ḥibbān also recorded the hadith through this route, no. 2584.

Yet Muslim was not the sole transmitter. Ibn Mājah (4010) said: “Saʿīd ibn Suwayd narrated to us; Yaḥyā ibn Salīm narrated to us, from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn Khuthaym.” Both Yaḥyā and Saʿīd are weak as well, but there is no harm in citing them for corroboration. Al-Faḍl ibn al-ʿAlāʾ likewise followed them in the portion traced back to the Prophet, saying, “Ibn Khuthaym narrated it to us.” Ibn Ḥibbān included this report too (1554), and al-Khaṭīb mentioned it in al-Tārīkh (7/396).

The marfūʿ version also has another chain from Jābir, reported by al-Bayhaqī in Shuʿab al-Īmān (2/432/2). It is supported by a hadith of Abū Saʿīd dealing with another incident, cited in al-Mishkāt (3004); further corroborations appear in al-Targhīb (3/138) and in al-Ḥākim (3/256).

Thus the first defect—Abū al-Zubayr’s ʿanʿanah—remains. However, the story comes by an alternate route reported by al-Bayhaqī in al-Asmāʾ wa-l-Ṣifāt (p. 404) and in Shuʿab al-Īmān (2/432, section 1), through ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, from Muḥārib ibn Dithār, from Ibn Burayda, from his father—may Allah be pleased with him—who said:
“When Jaʿfar—may Allah be pleased with him—returned from Abyssinia, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to him, ‘What is the most astonishing thing you saw there?’ He replied …” and he related the incident.

Its chain would be sound were it not that ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib became confused in his later years; nonetheless, it can be used for corroboration, so with it the hadith is acceptable, if Allah wills.

60- Ḥadīth of ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Paradise has one hundred levels; between every two levels is the distance between heaven and earth. The highest of them is al-Firdaws, and above it is the Throne. Therefore, when you ask Allah, ask Him for al-Firdaws.” Its transmitters are trustworthy. A similar wording has already appeared under hadith no. 43 from Abū Hurayrah, which is the stronger of the two.

47- I say: Rather, its chain is sound, just as al-Ḥākim affirmed and as the author endorsed in his Talkhīṣ. Although he hinted at preferring the aforementioned report of Abū Hurayrah (43), the correct view—following al-Ḥāfiẓ—is that both chains are authentic, as I clarified in al-Ṣaḥīḥah (921). The hadith is also recorded by Aḥmad and al-Tirmidhī.

61- Ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah: A Muslim and a Jew reviled one another. The Muslim said, “By the One who chose Muhammad above all people,” and the Jew replied, “By the One who chose Moses …”