p. 71: After mentioning this ḥadith and the next one from Bilāl, he writes, “Their chain of transmission is weak; al-Nawawī stated this explicitly in al-Adhkār.”

The second ḥadith

The ḥadith of Bilāl to which Ṣiddīq Khān alluded is reported from him as follows: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ went out to prayer he would say, “Bismillah; I have believed in Allah; I have relied upon Allah; there is no might and no power except with Allah. O Allah, by the right of those who beseech You and by the right of this setting-out of mine—for I have not gone forth in insolence or pride….” Ibn al-Sunnī recorded it in ʿAmal al-Yawm waʾl-Laylah, no. 82, through the route of al-Wāziʿ ibn Nāfiʿ al-ʿUqaylī, from Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, from him.

I say: This isnād is exceedingly weak, and its blemish is this al-Wāziʿ, for he possessed no inner restraint to keep him from lying, as I have shown in al-Silsilah al-Ḍaʿīfah. Thus, when al-Nawawī wrote in al-Adhkār, “A weak ḥadith—one of its transmitters is al-Wāziʿ ibn Nāfiʿ al-ʿUqaylī, and there is consensus on his weakness and that his ḥadith is munkar,” al-Ḥāfiẓ, after citing it, remarked:

“This ḥadith is extremely feeble. Al-Dāraqutnī recorded it in al-Afrād through this same route and said, ‘Al-Wāziʿ alone related it; there is agreement on his weakness and that his ḥadith is munkar.’ The verdict on him is even harsher than that: Ibn Maʿīn and al-Nasāʾī said, ‘He is not trustworthy’; Abū Ḥātim and others said, ‘His ḥadith is to be abandoned’; and al-Ḥākim said…”