Al-Dhahabi criticized this, saying: “I say: Salih is abandoned.” Al-Mundhiri had preceded him in saying something similar. In al-Targhib (2/277), commenting on al-Hakim, he said: “There is no doubt about his asceticism, but Abu Dawud and al-Nasa’i abandoned him.” Yet it has a corroborating report with a weak chain, recorded by Ahmad (2/177) from Ibn ‘Amr with similar wording. Its chain includes Ibn Lahi‘ah, who is weak, and at the beginning of its text is the additional wording: “Hearts are vessels, some more capacious than others; so when you ask Allah ...”
- “When you ask Allah, ask Him with the palms of your hands, and do not ask Him with their backs.”
It was recorded by Abu Dawud (1486), as well as al-Baghawi, Ibn Abi ‘Asim, Ibn al-Sakan, al-Ma‘mari in al-Yawm wa’l-Laylah, Ibn Qani‘ as cited in al-Isabah, and Ibn ‘Asakir (12/230–231), through Dumdum, from Shurayh, who said: Abu Zabiyah narrated to us that Abu Bahriyyah al-Sakuni narrated to him from Malik ibn Yasar al-Sakuni, then al-‘Awfi, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said it.
I say: This is a good chain of transmission. This Dumdum was Ibn Zur‘ah. A number of scholars deemed him trustworthy, including Ibn Ma‘in, though Abu Hatim declared him weak. Al-Hafiz said: “Truthful, but prone to error.” All the rest are trustworthy. Al-Hafiz’s rating of Abu Zabiyah as “acceptable” is itself unacceptable; rather, it falls short of his actual standing, for a number of early critics deemed the man trustworthy, including Ibn Ma‘in. Al-Daraqutni said: “There is no harm in him.”