Al-Tirmidhi (3/14), al-Hakim (2/68), al-Bayhaqi (9/160), and Ahmad (2/524) narrated it; and through Ahmad’s route, ‘Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi narrated it in al-Sunnah (249/2), from Hisham ibn Sa‘d, from Sa‘id ibn Abi Hilal, from Ibn Abi Dhibab, from Abu Hurayrah: A man from among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, passed through a mountain pass containing a spring of fresh water. Delighted by its pleasantness, he said, “If only I could remain in this mountain pass and withdraw from people; but I shall not do so until I seek the Messenger of Allah’s permission.” He mentioned this to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who said: “Do not do so, for the stationing ...!” The hadith.

Al-Maqdisi said: “This is an authentic chain of transmission.” Al-Hakim said: “Authentic according to Muslim’s criteria,” and al-Dhahabi concurred with him.

I say: Hisham ibn Sa‘d has been criticized with regard to his retention; thus, his hadith is good, but he does not meet Muslim’s criteria, since Muslim only narrated from him in corroborative reports, as al-Hakim himself stated. Al-Dhahabi also cited this very statement from him in al-Mizan. Perhaps this is why al-Tirmidhi said: “A good hadith.”

Nevertheless, the hadith is authentic on account of supporting evidence, for it has a corroborating report from the hadith of Abu Umamah, who said: “We went out with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him ...” The hadith is similar, except for the words: “Do you not wish ...?”

Ahmad (5/266) narrated it with a weak chain. Its initial portion—namely, “The station of one of you ...”—was narrated by al-Darimi (2/202), and from him by al-Hakim (2/68); likewise by Ibn ‘Asakir in al-Arba‘in fi al-Jihad (hadith no. 13—my copy), and by al-Bayhaqi (9/161), through the route of ‘Abdullah ibn Salih, who said: Yahya ibn Ayyub narrated to me, from Hisham, from al-Hasan, from ‘Imran ibn Husayn, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said it. Al-Hakim said: