Abu Dawud (1/433–434), al-Nasa’i in al-Siyar (2/48/1), Ibn Hibban in his Sahih (1630, Mawarid), al-Hakim (3/598), and Ahmad (6/8) recorded it through Ibn Wahb, who said: Amr ibn al-Harith informed me, from Bukayr ibn al-Ashajj, from al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Abi Rafi, that Abu Rafi informed him, saying: “Quraysh sent me as an envoy to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. When I saw the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, Islam was instilled in my heart, and I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, by Allah, I shall never return to them.’ The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: ‘Indeed I ...’” The hadith. He said: “So I went away, then came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and embraced Islam.”
Al-Hakim and al-Dhahabi made no comment on it. Its chain of transmission is authentic: all its narrators are trustworthy narrators of the two Sahihs, apart from al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Abi Rafi, who is trustworthy, as stated in al-Taqrib.
- “None regularly observes the Duha prayer except one who constantly turns to Allah in repentance; it is the prayer of those who constantly turn to Allah in repentance.”
Ibn Khuzaymah recorded it in his Sahih (1/133/1), as did al-Hakim (1/314), through Isma'il ibn Ubayd Allah ibn Zurarah al-Raqqi, who said: Khalid ibn Abd Allah narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Amr narrated to us, from Abu Salamah, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said it. Al-Hakim said: “Authentic according to Muslim’s criteria.” Al-Dhahabi agreed with him.
Ibn Khuzaymah said: “This shaykh, Isma'il ibn Abd Allah, was not corroborated in connecting this report. Al-Darawardi narrated it from Muhammad ibn Amr, from Abu Salamah, as a mursal report; and Hammad ibn Salamah narrated it from Muhammad ibn Amr, from Abu Salamah as his own statement.”
I say: This Isma'il ibn Abd Allah is truthful, as stated in al-Taqrib. He narrated it with a connected chain and attributed it to the Prophet, which is an addition that must be accepted. Yet it is not according to Muslim’s criteria, for Muslim did not record anything from Isma'il.