as is well known in hadith terminology. Accordingly, Hudhayfah’s hadith is a strong corroborating witness for this narration of Ibn ʿAsakir. And Allah grants success.

I then found the hadith in al-Akhmimi’s Hadiths from His Shaykhs (2/2/1): “Muhammad—meaning Ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Saʿid al-Mahrani—narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Bashshar narrated to us; Yahya ibn Saʿid narrated to us from Sufyan, from Mansur, from Ribʿi ibn Hirash,” attributing it to the Prophet, with the wording: “The last thing to which people held from the teachings of prophethood ...” to the end of the hadith.

Its narrators are trustworthy, and all are among the narrators of the two Shaykhs, apart from this al-Mahrani, for whom I could find no biographical entry. However, Abu Nuʿaym recorded it in Akhbar Isfahan (2/78), through al-Hasan ibn ʿUbayd Allah, from Ribʿi ibn Hirash, with similar wording. Thus, these are strong corroborating routes for Abu Malik al-Ashjaʿi, indicating that he had preserved it accurately.