As for Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān, al-Dhahabī said in al-Ḍuʿafāʾ (The Weak Narrators): “He is truthful. Abū Ḥātim said: His reports are not used as evidence.” Al-Ḥāfiẓ said in al-Taqrīb: “Truthful, but prone to error.”
I say: Thus, in view of all its chains, the hadith is good or authentic. And Allah knows best.
A point of benefit: al-Ḍiyāʾ related that Ibn Ḥibbān said: “It seems that the meaning of the report is that whoever meets Allah as a habitual drinker of wine, deeming its consumption lawful, will meet Him like an idol worshipper, since both are alike in a state of disbelief.”
- “A habitual drinker of wine, one who believes in magic, and one who severs ties of kinship will not enter Paradise.”
Ibn Ḥibbān narrated it in his Ṣaḥīḥ (1381), through Abū Ḥurayz, from Abū Burdah, from Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī, who said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said it.
I say: The narrators in its chain are trustworthy except Abū Ḥurayz, who has some weakness. Al-Ḥākim and al-Dhahabī declared this hadith authentic, but I explained their error in that in the other book (1463). I also cited there a supporting narration from the hadith of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī. Thus, in view of its two chains, the hadith is good. And Allah knows best.
- “The souls become birds, clinging to the trees; then, when the Day of Resurrection comes, each soul enters its body.”
Aḥmad (6/424–425) and al-Ṭabarānī in al-Kabīr, as cited in al-Ḥāwī (2/361)—and from him Abū Nuʿaym in al-Ḥilyah (2/77)—narrated it through Ibn Lahīʿah, who said: Abū al-Aswad narrated to us: