have become lawful. End quote.

This is further supported by what Ahmad and Ibn Hibban narrated from Anas concerning the story of al-Hajjaj ibn Allat, which al-Nasai narrated and al-Hakim authenticated: he sought the Prophet’s permission, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to say whatever he wished about him, in order to serve his own interest in recovering his property from the people of Mecca. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, gave him permission, and he told the people of Meca that the people of Khaybar had defeated the Muslims, along with other details well known in that account.”

546 — “We know of nothing better than one hundred of its like, except a believing man.”

Imam Ahmad narrated it (2/109): Harun narrated to us; Ibn Wahb narrated to us; Usamah related to me from Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Uthman, from Abdullah ibn Dinar, from Abdullah ibn Umar, that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said it. Al-Tabarani also narrated it in al-Mujam al-Saghir (p. 82): Hasnun ibn Ahmad al-Misri narrated to us; Ahmad ibn Salih narrated to us; Abdullah ibn Wahb narrated to us—but he said, “one thousand,” in place of “one hundred,” and omitted Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Uthman from the chain of transmission. Al-Tabarani then said: “No one narrated it from Abdullah ibn Dinar except Usamah. Ibn Wahb alone narrated it, and it is narrated only through this chain of transmission.”

I say: Ahmad’s version is sounder, both in its chain of transmission and its text, for I do not know this Hasnun, al-Tabarani’s shaykh. Ahmad’s chain of transmission is good: its narrators are trustworthy and are narrators of Muslim, apart from Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Amr. He was the grandson of al-Hasan, known as al-Dibaj, concerning whom there is disagreement. Al-Hafiz said in al-Taqrib: “Truthful.”