I say: Its chain of transmission is authentic according to the criteria of al-Bukhārī and Muslim. Al-Ḥāfiẓ said in his Commentary on al-Bukhārī: “Al-Nasāʾī reported it with a connected chain, and its chain meets al-Bukhārī’s criteria.” Al-Ṭabarānī also reported it in al-Muʿjam al-Ṣaghīr (p. 22), through ʿImrān ibn Ẓabyān, from ʿAdī, with the same report. Neither he nor Aḥmad includes the phrase, “on the day of Qurayẓah.”

Al-Bukhārī (4/79–80, 5/51, 7/109), Muslim (7/163), al-Ṭayālisī (p. 99, no. 730), and Aḥmad (4/299, 302) then reported it through Shuʿbah, from ʿAdī, with the same report, except that he was uncertain and said: “Satirize them,” or, “Engage them in poetic invective.” Al-Ḥākim (3/487) also reported it through ʿĪsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, who said: ʿAdī ibn Thābit narrated to me, with the wording: He said to Ḥassān ibn Thābit, “Indeed, Gabriel is with you so long as you satirize them.” He also has another, longer chain for it, which will appear under (1970), with the wording: “Go to Abū Bakr ...”

A second chain, through Abū Isḥāq from al-Barāʾ, appears in the Musnad (4/298, 301) and al-Muʿjam al-Ṣaghīr (p. 207). Its chain is authentic according to the criteria of both of them. It is corroborated by a report with the wording:

802 — “Satirize them in verse, for the believer strives with his person and his wealth. By Him in Whose Hand is Muhammad’s soul, it is as though you were showering them with arrows.”

Aḥmad (3/460) reported it: ʿAlī ibn Baḥr narrated to us; ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad al-Dārāwardī narrated to us, from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn the nephew of Ibn Shihāb, from Ibn Shihāb, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kaʿb, from Kaʿb ibn Mālik, attributed to the Prophet, with the same wording. This is a good chain; its narrators are trustworthy and are among those used by al-Bukhārī and Muslim, apart from ʿAlī ibn Baḥr, who is trustworthy