this field. Hence, this hadith is not narrated in any of the works relied upon for transmission (1)—not in collections devoted to authentic hadith, Musnad collections (2), comprehensive compilations, or Sunan works (3). Nor was it narrated by authors writing on virtues, even though they sometimes exercise latitude in narrating weak hadiths. Al-Nasāī, for example, authored (4) The Distinctive Merits of Ali and included in it (5) several weak hadiths, yet he did not narrate (6) this report or others like it (7).
Likewise, Abū Nuaym in The Distinctive Merits (8), Khaythama ibn Sulaymān (9), and al-Tirmidhī in his Comprehensive Collection each narrated many hadiths concerning Ali’s virtues, many of which are weak; yet none of them narrated anything like this because its falsity is manifest.
Authors of biographical works, such as Ibn Ishāq and others, likewise mention weak reports concerning his virtues, yet they did not mention anything like this. Nor is the report that we have said is fabricated by consensus of the authorities on transmitted reports narrated by the leading Quranic commentators who transmit such material through well-known chains of transmission, as in the commentaries of Ibn Jurayj, Saīd ibn Abī Arūba, Abd al-Razzāq, and Abd ibn Humayd,
(1) I could not find this hadith.
(2) M reads: “Musnad collections.”
(3) M reads: “nor comprehensive compilations nor Sunan works; nor in comprehensive compilations nor in Sunan works.”
(4) “Authored” is absent from S; B reads: “narrated.”
(5) M reads: “for it.”
(6) M reads: “and they did not narrate.”
(7) Sezgin (vol. [0–9], part [0–9], p. [0–9]30) lists this work and its manuscript copies. It was printed in Cairo in 1308 AH.
(8) M reads: “in *al-Fadāil* (The Virtues).” Abū Nuaym is Ahmad ibn Abd Allāh ibn Ahmad al-Asbahānī, known as Abū Nuaym. He was a hadith master and historian, born in Asbahān in 326 AH and deceased in 430 AH. His works include *Hilyat al-Awliyā wa Tabaqāt al-Asfiyā* (*The Adornment of the Saints and the Classes of the Pure*), *Dalāil al-Nubuwwa* (*Signs of Prophethood*), and *Tabaqāt al-Muhaddithīn wa-al-Ruwāt* (*Classes of Hadith Scholars and Transmitters*). See his biography in *Wafayāt al-Ayān*, vol. 1; *Mīzān al-Itidāl*, vol. 1, p. 111; *Lisān al-Mīzān*, vol. 1, p. 201; *Tabaqāt al-Shāfiiyya*, vol. 4, pp. 18–25; and *al-Alām*, vol. 1, p. 150.
(9) N and S read: “and Hathma ibn Sulaymān”; B reads: “and Ibn Abī Hathma, Abū Bakr ibn Sulaymān.” This is an error. He is Abū al-Hasan Khaythama ibn Sulaymān ibn Haydara al-Qurashī al-Tarābulusī. He was born in 250 AH and died in 343 AH. He was one of the hadith masters and wrote a substantial work entitled *Fadāil al-Sahāba* (*Virtues of the Companions*), as well as another entitled *Fadāil al-Siddīq* (*Virtues of al-Siddīq*). Sezgin states that a manuscript copy of the two works is held at al-Zāhiriyya. See his biography in *Shadharāt al-Dhahab*, vol. 2, p. 365; *Lisān al-Mīzān*, vol. 2, pp. 411–412; *al-Alām*, vol. 2, p. 374; *Mujam al-Muallifīn* (*Dictionary of Authors*), vol. 4, p. 131; and Sezgin, vol. [0–9], part 1, pp. 368–369.