It was transmitted by al-Bukhari (4/14, 9/101), Ahmad (2/335, 339), and al-Bayhaqi in al-Asmāʾ (The Names) (398), through Fulayh, from Hilal ibn Ali, from Ata ibn Yasar, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who said it.

I say: Although this Fulayh was among the narrators of the two Shaykhs, he was truthful but made many errors, as al-Hafiz said. However, the hadith of Mu'adh ibn Jabal corroborates his report and shows that he had preserved it correctly: through Zayd ibn Aslam, from Ata ibn Yasar, from Mu'adh ibn Jabal, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said it in similar wording, in its entirety. There is a discrepancy in its chain of transmission, the explanation of which will follow in the next hadith.

Note: Al-Hakim (1/80) transmitted the hadith in abridged form through the route mentioned above and said: “It is authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs, though neither of them transmitted it.” Al-Dhahabi concurred with him.

I say: Both were mistaken in their claim that al-Bukhari had omitted it, for he transmitted it with a fuller wording than his. Strangely, al-Suyuti likewise cited it in abridged form in Ziyādat al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr, attributing it to Ahmad and al-Bukhari. Ibn Hibban (18) also transmitted it through the route mentioned above, but in his version, “Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Amrah” appears in place of “Ata ibn Yasar.”

922 — “Paradise has one hundred degrees; between every two degrees is a journey of one hundred years”—and Affan said: “Like the distance between heaven and earth.” “Al-Firdaws is its highest degree; from it flow the four rivers, and the Throne is above it. So, when you ask Allah, Mighty and Majestic, ask Him for al-Firdaws.”

It was transmitted by al-Tirmidhi (3/326), al-Hakim (1/80), and Ahmad (5/316, 321), whose wording is cited here, through several routes from Hammam ibn Yahya, from