“In its chain is an unnamed narrator, and Baqiyyah practises tadlīs.” Something similar appears in al-Targhīb (3/231).

I say: Abu Nuʿaym also narrated it in al-Ḥilyah (1/214), through Maʿmar, from an associate of his, that Abu al-Dardāʾ ... and then mentioned the hadith. This chain is free of Baqiyyah, but, in addition to the fact that Maʿmar’s associate is unknown, I do not think that this associate met Abu al-Dardāʾ. Allah knows best.

Al-Kharāʾiṭī also narrated it in Makārim al-Akhlāq (p. 75): Abu al-Ḥārith Muḥammad ibn Muṣʿab al-Dimashqī related to us; Hishām ibn ʿAmmār related to us; Ṣadaqah ibn Khālid related to us; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd ibn Jābir related to us, from Muḥammad ibn Wāsiʿ al-Azdī, that Abu al-Dardāʾ wrote to Salmān: “My brother, draw the orphan close, stroke his head, and feed him from your food, for I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: A man came to him complaining of the hardness of his heart, and he said: ‘Draw the orphan close, stroke his head, and feed him from your food; your heart will soften, and you will be able to fulfil your need.’”

The narrators of this chain are trustworthy, apart from this Abu al-Ḥārith. Ibn ʿAsākir included his biography in Tārīkh Dimashq (15/521/2/522/2), mentioning some hadiths from him, but did not cite any criticism or accreditation concerning him. Regarding Muḥammad ibn Wāsiʿ, Ibn al-Madīnī said: “I do not know of him having heard from any of the Companions.”

Al-Kharāʾiṭī’s version of this hadith was cited by al-Suyūṭī in al-Jāmiʿ al-Kabīr (1/30/1), with the addition, “and treat him gently.” He said: “Al-Ḍiyāʾ, al-Bayhaqī, al-Kharāʾiṭī, and Ibn ʿAsākir narrated it from Abu al-Dardāʾ.”