I then saw that the hadith master Ḍiyāʾ al-Dīn al-Maqdisī had included this hadith in A Fascicle Containing Hadiths, Reports, and Poetry (9 / 1), through al-Khaṭīb’s route, and said: “ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib was trustworthy, except that he became confused in his later years. When narrators such as Sufyān, Shuʿbah, and Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated from him, they had heard from him before this confusion, and their hadiths from him are authentic. Muḥammad ibn al-Junayd was declared trustworthy by Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq ibn al-Bahlūl.”

I say: In my view, classing Ḥammād together with Sufyān and Shuʿbah is open to question, for he too heard from ʿAṭāʾ after the latter’s confusion, as the hadith master established in al-Tahdhīb. One should therefore refrain from declaring his hadiths from him authentic until it is established that he heard them from him before the confusion—contrary to some distinguished contemporary scholars. In Natāʾij al-Afkār, the hadith master included al-Aʿmash alongside Sufyān and Shuʿbah because he belonged to an earlier generation. This is a useful point which I have not found anyone besides him to have drawn attention to. May Allah reward him well.

Note: In the printed copy of al-Khaṭīb’s Tārīkh, after the words “you will be rewarded,” there is the addition, “and every letter earns ten good deeds.” The printer placed it in brackets, apparently having taken it from some copies of the Tārīkh. But, since I found it at variance with the context, and it does not occur in either al-Suyūṭī’s al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr or al-Jāmiʿ al-Kabīr, I was not convinced that it was established and so did not restore it. This was later confirmed when I saw that al-Ḍiyāʾ narrated it from al-Khaṭīb without this addition; it is likewise absent from al-Daylamī’s version.

Praise be to Allah for His enabling grace, and I ask Him for more of His bounty.

I then found a corroborating narration for ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib. Ibn Naṣr narrated in Qiyām al-Layl (70): Yaḥyā narrated to us: Abū Muʿāwiyah informed us, from al-Hijrī, from Abū al-Aḥwaṣ, with a more complete wording, as follows:

“This Quran is Allah’s banquet, so learn from His banquet as much as you are able. This Quran is the rope of Allah, the clear light, and the beneficial healing: a safeguard for whoever holds fast to it and salvation for whoever follows it. It does not become crooked and thus require straightening; nor does it deviate and thus merit reproach. Its wonders never come to an end, and frequent repetition does not wear it out. Recite it, for Allah will reward you for its recitation: for every letter, ten good deeds. I do not say that Alif Lām Mīm earns ten; rather, alif earns ten, lām earns ten, and mīm earns ten.”