Ibn Khuzaymah also recorded it in al-Tawhid (p. 153), through Farqad ibn al-Hajjaj, who said: I heard ʿUqbah ibn Abi al-Hasnaʾ say: I heard Abu Hurayrah say: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said—and he then cited it.

I say: This chain is acceptable as corroborative evidence. Its narrators are trustworthy, except for this ʿUqbah, who is unknown. Ibn Hibban did include him in al-Thiqat, but the aforementioned hadith of Jabir corroborates it.

Know that this hadith, like other hadiths concerning the divine attributes, must be accepted in accordance with its apparent meaning, without negation of the attributes or likening Allah to creation, as was the way of the Salaf. Their way was not tafwid, as al-Kawthari and others among those who negate the attributes claim. Ibn Taymiyyah explained this in his treatise al-Tadmuriyyah and elsewhere. According to their claim, tafwid means accepting the texts without understanding them, while believing in their wording! The necessary consequence of this is to ascribe ignorance to the Salaf regarding the matter dearest and most sacred to them: Allah’s names and attributes. Whoever understands this will realize the gravity of what they attribute to them. Allah is the One whose help is sought. For further discussion, see my introduction to my book Mukhtasar al-ʿUluww of al-Dhahabi; may Allah make its printing easy.

757 — “The lifespans of my community are between sixty and seventy years, and few among them exceed that.”

It was recorded by al-Tirmidhi (2/272), Ibn Majah (4236), Ibn Hibban in his Sahih (96/2), in the seventieth section of a surviving portion preserved in the Zahiriyyah Library, al-Thaʿlabi (3/158/2), al-Qudaʿi (5/2), al-Hakim (2/427), and al-Khatib (6/397, 12/42), from al-Hasan ibn ʿArafah, who said: al-Muharibi informed us, from Muhammad ibn ʿAmr, from Abu Salamah, from Abu Hurayrah, attributed to the Prophet. Ibn ʿArafah said, “And I am among the few.” Ibn Mandah also recorded it in al-Tawhid (38/2), from Yusuf ibn Musa: ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Muharibi narrated to us and said: