(14) “Glad tidings to the one who has seen me and believed in me, and glad tidings—seven times over—to the one who has not seen me yet has believed in me.” Reported by Aḥmad. The Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—remarked in al-Mishkāt, no. 6281: “Its chain is weak.” In Hidāyat al-Ruwwāt, no. 6245, he added: “Its chain is weak, yet the ḥadīth possesses a supporting narration from Anas that strengthens it, and I have documented it in al-Ṣaḥīḥah 1241.” In Ṣaḥīḥ Mawārid al-Ẓamʾān, 1961/2303, he wrote: “Sound through corroboration—the same ruling as in al-Ṣaḥīḥah, no. 1241.” See also al-Ṣaḥīḥah, nos. 3432 and 2888. Allah knows best.

(15) ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Sāʾib, the nephew of Maymūnah, reported that Maymūnah said to me, “My nephew, shall I not perform for you the ruqyah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?” I replied, “Yes indeed.” She said: “In the name of Allah I treat you; may Allah cure you of every illness within you. Remove the harm, Lord of mankind. Grant healing, for You are the Healer; there is no healing except Your healing.”

The Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—wrote in al-Ḍaʿīfah, no. 3357: “The ḥadīth is recorded by al-Nasāʾī in ʿAmal al-Yawmi wa’l-Laylah”—referring to this very narration—“after which al-Nasāʾī, al-Bukhārī in al-Tārīkh, Ibn Ḥibbān (343/1417 Mawārid) and Aḥmad transmitted it through the chain of Azhar ibn Saʿīd al-Ḥarāzī from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Sāʾib….” He continued: “Its narrators are trustworthy, save that no one declared ʿAbd al-Raḥmān reliable apart from Ibn Ḥibbān, and Ibn Ḥibbān mentioned no pupil of his other than this Azhar. Al-Bukhārī and Ibn Abī Ḥātim did likewise….”

In Ṣaḥīḥ Mawārid al-Ẓamʾān, 1187/1417, he graded the report “ḥasan through corroboration (al-Ḍaʿīfah, no. 3357).” Allah knows best.

(16) This is a ḥadīth in which the Shaykh retracted the authentication of one of its clauses, a point he flagged in Ḍaʿīf Mawārid al-Ẓamʾān.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mughaffal—may Allah be pleased with him—narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Pray in sheepfolds, but do not pray in camel enclosures, for they were created from devils.” Listed in Ḍaʿīf Mawārid al-Ẓamʾān 25/335 and judged weak in the notes to Ḥaqīqat al-Ṣiyām, p. 47.

The Shaykh wrote in footnote 3: “As for the statement of the annotator of al-Iḥsān, 4/602 (al-Muʾassasah edition)—‘It has many supporting narrations which I cited after the previous ḥadīth, no. 1384’ (alluding to the forthcoming report of Abū Hurayrah in the Ṣaḥīḥ)—he has produced no witness whatsoever for the clause ‘for they were created from devils.’ Do not be deceived by his claim and go on to declare the ḥadīth sound, as he has done in his printing of this book (Mawārid 1/164–165). Al-Dārānī took a similar line (2/30–32), though without stating it plainly.

“On this occasion I also note that we failed to delete this clause from Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ and to replace it with an ellipsis ‘…,’ which is the procedure we follow in such cases.” See Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ 3788 and 1439 (third edition), Ibn Mājah 768–769, al-Thamar al-Mustaṭāb, pp. 387–388, and al-Ḍaʿīfah, ḥadīth 2210, p. 238. Allah knows best.

(17) In a lengthy narration Abū Dharr—may Allah be pleased with him—said: “I asked, ‘Messenger of Allah, how many prophets were there?’ He replied, ‘One hundred and twenty thousand.’ ” In Ḍaʿīf Mawārid al-Ẓamʾān, p. 13, the Shaykh graded it “very weak,” whereas in al-Ṣaḥīḥah, no. 2668, p. 363, he concluded: “In sum, the number of messengers mentioned in this narration is sound in and of itself, and the number of prophets cited in one of its chains—as well as in Abū Dharr’s report through three routes—is sound through corroboration.”

Note: The Shaykh incorporated the long ḥadīth of Abū Dharr in Ṣaḥīḥ Mawārid al-Ẓamʾān (nos. 81–94), where he divided it into segments, grading some of them ḥasan or ṣaḥīḥ because of the supporting evidence he cited. He also included it in Ḍaʿīf Mawārid (10–94) owing to weak or very weak clauses, and at the end of his discussion there he wrote: “Very weak—al-Ḍaʿīfah 1910, 5638, 6090—though certain clauses are established in other narrations; I have indicated their gradings in the Ṣaḥīḥ (i.e., Ṣaḥīḥ Mawārid) as a prompt benefit, and I have extracted those clauses and placed them in their proper locations in the relevant works.”

Here follows a ḥadīth whose chain the Shaykh first declared sound—subject to a qualification he mentioned—then later deemed it ḥasan through corroboration.

(18) Abū Dharr reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to me while I was in the mosque of Madinah, nudged me with his foot and said, “Do I not see you sleeping here?” I answered, “Messenger of Allah, my eyes overcame me.” He asked, “What will you do when you are driven out of it?” I replied, “I will go to the land of Syria, the sacred and blessed land.” He asked, “What will you do when you are expelled from it?” I said, “What else can I do, Messenger of Allah—shall I fight with my sword?” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Shall I not guide you to something better for you and nearer to right guidance?”—he said this twice—“Listen and obey, and follow wherever they lead you.”

Recorded in Ẓilāl al-Jannah 1074, where the Shaykh commented: “Its chain is sound if the uncle of Abū Ḥarb ibn Abī al-Aswad was a Companion or a reliable Successor, for I have not identified him. All the remaining transmitters are trustworthy…. The ḥadīth was also transmitted by Ibn Ḥibbān 1548, Aḥmad and al-Dārimī—partly—through other routes from Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān.”

In Ṣaḥīḥ Mawārid al-Ẓamʾān, 1285/1548, he graded it: “ḥasan through corroboration—Ẓilāl 1074.”