Adam ibn Abī Iyās al-ʿAsqalānī differed from both of them, saying: “Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Fudayk al-Madanī narrated to me, from al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAṭiyyah al-Saʿdī, from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Muṭṭalib ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥanṭab, from his father, from his grandfather, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥanṭab, who said: ‘I was with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, when he looked at Abū Bakr and ʿUmar and said...’” He then cited the hadith. Al-Ḥākim narrated it (3/69) and said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” Al-Dhahabī said: “I say: good.”

I say: Perhaps he meant that it is good on account of supporting evidence; otherwise, I have found no biographical notice for al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAṭiyyah al-Saʿdī. Yet he was corroborated, as will follow. Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: “I asked my father about a hadith which Ibn Abī Fudayk narrated, saying: ‘More than one person narrated to me from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Muṭṭalib,’” with this chain.

Ibn Mandah also transmitted it with a connected chain, through Duḥaym, from Ibn Abī Fudayk, with this chain, as stated by al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar in al-Iṣābah. He said: “The same is found in al-Baghawī, who named among them ʿAmr ibn Abī ʿAmr and ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿUthmān. This indicates that Ibn Abī Fudayk did not hear it from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Miṣrī and others likewise narrated it from Ibn Abī Fudayk and identified the unnamed transmitters as ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and ʿAmr ibn Abī ʿAmr. Jaʿfar ibn Musāfir narrated it from Ibn Abī Fudayk, saying: ‘From al-Mughīrah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from al-Muṭṭalib ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥanṭab, from his father, from his grandfather,’ who said: ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him...’” He then cited it.

This is another discrepancy, which entails that the hadith is narrated from Ḥanṭab, the father of ʿAbd Allāh. It has also been said concerning al-Muṭṭalib ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥanṭab that he was in fact al-Muṭṭalib ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Muṭṭalib ibn Ḥanṭab. If this is established, then companionship belongs to al-Muṭṭalib ibn Ḥanṭab. And Allah knows best.”