“He—meaning the Lord, Mighty and Majestic—will say to the believers: ‘Is there a sign between you and Him by which you recognize Him?’ They will say, ‘The Shin.’ He will then uncover His Shin, and they will prostrate...”

Al-Bayhaqi also recorded it in al-Asmāʾ wa’l-Ṣifāt (p. 344), through his chain from Yaḥyā ibn Bukayr, with the same chain. He said: “Al-Bukhari narrated it in his Ṣaḥīḥ from Ibn Bukayr, and narrated it from Ādam ibn Abī Iyās, from al-Layth, in abridged form. In this hadith he said: ‘Our Lord uncovers His Shin.’ Muslim narrated it from ʿĪsā ibn Ḥammād, from al-Layth, as Ibn Bukayr narrated it. It was also narrated from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, from the Prophet ﷺ.”

I say: Muslim recorded it in the Book of Faith of his Ṣaḥīḥ (1/114–117): Suwayd ibn Saʿīd narrated to me; Ḥafṣ ibn Maysarah narrated to me, from Zayd ibn Aslam, with the same chain. However, he said: “...They will say, ‘Yes,’ then He uncovers His Shin...” He then cited it through ʿĪsā ibn Ḥammād, from al-Layth, with similar wording, without giving its text. Through Hishām ibn Saʿd: Zayd ibn Aslam narrated to us, with similar wording; he likewise did not give its text, but referred in both cases to the wording of Ḥafṣ’s hadith.

Ibn Khuzaymah recorded Hishām’s hadith in al-Tawḥīd (p. 113), as did al-Ḥākim (4/582–584), who said: “Its chain is authentic.” Al-Dhahabī concurred with him. In his version there is: “Yes, the Shin; then He uncovers His Shin.” Ibn Khuzaymah and Aḥmad also recorded it (3/16–17) through ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq: Zayd ibn Aslam narrated to us, with the wording: “He said: ‘Then He uncovers His Shin.’” Ibn Bukayr’s wording in al-Bukhari is: “Is there a sign between you and Him by which you recognize Him?” They will say: “The Shin.” This is also Muslim’s wording from Saʿīd ibn Suwayd—