(8/194–195), and likewise by ʾal-Ḍiyāʾ al-Maqdisī in “al-Aḥādīth al-Mukhtārah” (16/1), and by the ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar in “al-Aḥādīth al-ʿĀliyāt” (no. 25). He remarked, “A sound-grade (ḥasan) report transmitted by Ibn Mājah, Abū Yaʿlā, and al-Ṭabarānī.”
I add: the ḥadith is supported by further chains—from Jābir and others—preserved by Ibn ʿAsākir; with these corroborations the report rises to the level of sound (ṣaḥīḥ). Ibn Mājah, however, records only the incident of the kunya (3737).
Al-Buṣayrī states in “al-Zawāʾid”: “Its isnād is ḥasan.”
Aḥmad also relates it in full (6/16) and adds the phrase: “and he returned the greeting.” Its chain is ḥasan; although it contains Zuhayr—Zuhayr b. Muḥammad al-Tamīmī al-Khurāsānī—this version comes through transmitters other than the Syrians, and their narrations from him are reliable.
Aḥmad further transmits it (6/333) through the route of Zayd b. Aslam, that ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb said to Suhayb—conveying a similar wording. Its narrators are trustworthy, yet the chain is broken between Zayd and ʿUmar.
Luwayn provides an additional corroboration, on the authority of Abū Hurayrah, traced back to the Prophet ﷺ. All its transmitters are reliable except for Abū ʿUbayd, the freedman of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, who relates it from Abū Hurayrah; I have found no biographical entry for him.
Benefits derived from the ḥadith
Among the points of benefit are:
- The permissibility—even the commendation—of adopting a kunya for one who has no children. Indeed, this practice is authentically established in al-Bukhārī and elsewhere