Mubārak ibn Fuḍālah reported to me from ʿAbd Rabbih ibn Saʿīd, from Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir, from Jābir, attributed to the Prophet.

Al-Tirmidhī said: “There is also a report on this subject from Abū Hurayrah. This hadith is good and singular through this route. Some narrate this hadith from Mubārak ibn Fuḍālah, from Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir, from Jābir, without mentioning ʿAbd Rabbih ibn Saʿīd; and this is more correct.”

I say: In either case, the chain revolves around Ibn Fuḍālah, who is truthful but practises tadlīs (concealing an intermediary narrator). Yet he explicitly states that he heard the report, as you can see; thus, its chain of transmission is good. The hadith of Abū Hurayrah to which al-Tirmidhī alluded begins, “The worst of my community...” It will be cited later, and part of it has already appeared under hadith 751.

It also has a corroborating report from Abū Thaʿlabah al-Khushanī, which is documented in al-Mishkāh (4797), as well as another, abbreviated report from Ibn ʿAbbās with similar wording: “The best of you are those with the finest character...” Al-Bayhaqī recorded it in al-Shuʿab, as cited in al-Jāmiʿ.

792 — “Indeed, the most beloved of you to me are those of you with the finest character.”

Aḥmad (2/189) recorded it through the route of Shuʿbah, from Sulaymān, who said: “I heard Abū Wāʾil narrate from Masrūq, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr,” attributed to the Prophet.

This is an authentic chain of transmission meeting the criteria of the six canonical hadith collections. Al-Bukhārī also recorded it (2/445) with the wording: