(1) N, M, and A read: “the ummah: its most righteous at heart.” Ibn Abd al-Barr’s version reads: “Whoever among you seeks an example to follow should follow the example of Muhammad’s Companions—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—for they were the most righteous in heart of this ummah…” (2) After the word “affectation,” *Jāmi Bayān al-Ilm* adds: “the most upright in guidance and the best in condition—a people whom He chose…” and so forth. (3) “Allah” is absent from A and B. (4) *Jāmi Bayān al-Ilm* reads: “His Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace.” (5) “Their merit” is the reading in A, B, M, and *Jāmi Bayān al-Ilm*; N reads: “their conduct.” (6) The passage between markers (6–6) is absent from *Jāmi Bayān al-Ilm*. (7) N and M read: “Ibn Masūd.” I could not find the following report in the printed edition of *al-Ibāna*, but I found it in *al-Musnad* (al-Maārif ed.), 5/211, no. 3600. Its chain of transmission is: “Abū Bakr related to us, saying: Āsim related to us, from Zirr ibn Hubaysh, from Abd Allāh ibn Masūd, who said…” and so forth. The editor—may Allah have mercy on him—states: “Its *isnād* (chain of transmission) is sound, and it is *mawqūf* (attributed only to Ibn Masūd). It also appears in *Majma al-Zawāid*, 1:177–178, which states: ‘It was related by Ahmad, al-Bazzār, and al-Tabarānī in *al-Kabīr*, and its narrators have been deemed trustworthy.’” As for Zirr ibn Hubaysh, his biographical entry appears in *al-Jarh wa-al-Tadīl*, vol. [0–9], part [0–9], pp. [0–9]22–623, where it states: “Zirr ibn Hubaysh al-Asadī narrated from Umar, Alī, Abd Allāh, and Ubayy. Al-Shabī, Ibrāhīm, Āsim, Abū Burda, al-Minhāl ibn Amr, and Abada ibn Abī Lubāba narrated from him. I heard my father say this. Abd al-Rahmān related to us, saying: My father mentioned him, reporting from Ishāq ibn Mansūr, from Yahyā ibn Maīn, who said: ‘Zirr ibn Hubaysh is trustworthy.’” See also his biographical entry in Ibn Sad’s *Tabaqāt*, 6/104–105. As for Āsim, he was Āsim ibn Bahdala, also known as Āsim ibn Abī al-Najūd. Ibn Khallikān states: “He was one of the seven Quran reciters and a recognized authority on Quranic recitation. He learned recitation from Abd al-Rahmān al-Sulamī and Zirr ibn Hubaysh, and Abū Bakr ibn Ayyāsh learned it from him… Āsim died in Kufa in 128.” Al-Khazrajī’s *al-Khulāsa* states that Ahmad, Ahmad al-Ijlī, Yaqūb ibn Sufyān, and Abū Zura deemed him trustworthy, while al-Dāraqutnī said: “There was some issue with his memory.” See also his biographical entries in *Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb*, 5/38–40; al-Khazrajī’s *al-Khulāsa*, p. 154; *Wafayāt al-Ayān*, 2/224; Ibn Sad’s *Tabaqāt*, 6/320–321; and al-Ziriklī’s *al-Alām*, 4/12. As for Abū Bakr, he was Abū Bakr ibn Ayyāsh ibn Sālim al-Asadī. Scholars differed regarding his name and the date of his death: some said that he died in 173, while others said in 193. Al-Khazrajī’s *al-Khulāsa* (p. 383) states: “Among those who narrated from him were Ibn al-Mubārak, Ibn Mahdī, Ibn al-Madīnī, and Ahmad, who said: ‘He was trustworthy, though he sometimes erred.’ Ibn Adī said: ‘I found no objectionable hadith from him when a trustworthy narrator transmitted it from him.’” See his biographical entries in Ibn Sad’s *Tabaqāt*, 6/386, and *Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb*, 12–37.