916 — “The Ansar have fulfilled what was incumbent upon them, and what remains is incumbent upon you. So treat their virtuous ones well, and overlook their wrongdoers.”

Ibn Hibban (2293) and Ahmad (3/187, 205–206) transmitted it through several routes from Humayd, from Anas ibn Malik: “One day, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, came out with his head wrapped, and he was met by the children and servants of the Ansar—the Ansar’s reserve in those days. He said: ‘By Him in Whose Hand is my soul, I truly love you’—twice or three times—then he said”—and he cited it.

This chain is authentic according to the conditions of the two Shaykhs. Ahmad (3/162) also transmitted it through the route of Thabit al-Bunani, who heard Anas ibn Malik say: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said—and he cited something similar to it. Its chain is likewise authentic according to their conditions.

The final clause is corroborated by reports from Sahl ibn Sa‘d, ‘Abdullah ibn Ja‘far, and Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Hatib, attributed to the Prophet with the same wording. Al-Haythami said in al-Majma‘ (10/37): “Al-Tabarani transmitted it, and its chain contains ‘Abd al-Muhaymin ibn al-‘Abbas ibn Sahl, who is weak.” A page earlier, he mentioned it in similar terms and said: “Abu Ya‘la and al-Tabarani transmitted it in al-Awsat and al-Kabir through chains of transmission: one contains ‘Abdullah ibn Mus‘ab, and the other contains ‘Abd al-Muhaymin ibn al-‘Abbas; both are weak.”

I say: Yet each of the two lends strength to the other, and their report is authentic through the corroboration of Anas’s hadith. In one narration of Ahmad (3/241), through the route of ‘Ali ibn Zayd, he said: