I say: Ibn Abī Ḥātim cited it in this form (1/332) and said: “Abū Zurʿah said: ‘This hadith has no basis.’” Al-Silafī also recorded it in al-Ṭuyūriyyāt (fol. 252/1) through the route of al-Wāqidī: Hārūn al-Sarakhsī informed us, from ʿUbayd Allāh, from Nāfiʿ, through that chain. Al-Wāqidī was accused, and his name was Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar ibn Wāqid al-Aslamī.

817 — “Do not grant entry to one who has not begun with the greeting.”

Abū Nuʿaym recorded it in Akhbār Iṣbahān (1/357): Abū Aḥmad ʿUmar ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ibrāhīm al-Warrāq—the imam of the congregational mosque—narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz narrated to us; Surayj ibn Yūnus narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn Hāshim narrated to us, from Ibrāhīm, from Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir, attributed to the Prophet. He included it in ʿUmar’s biographical entry and said: “He died in the year 368 AH.” He mentioned no narrator criticism or accreditation concerning him. All the remaining narrators are trustworthy, except that Abū al-Zubayr was known to practise tadlīs, and he related it using an ambiguous transmission formula. Ibrāhīm is Ibn Ṭahmān, a trustworthy narrator whose reports are found in both Ṣaḥīḥ collections.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī, the hadith master, who was truthful.

Al-Haythamī said concerning the hadith (8/32): “Abū Yaʿlā recorded it, and its chain contains someone whom I do not know”!

The hadith has a corroborating report, narrated by ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿAṭāʾ from Abū Hurayrah—I am doubtful whether it is attributed to the Prophet—who said: “The person seeking permission to enter is not to be admitted until he begins with the greeting.”

Al-Haythamī said: