955 — “Surah Hud, al-Waqiʿah, al-Mursalat, ‘About What Are They Asking One Another?’, and ‘When the Sun Is Folded Up’ have made me grow grey.”

Al-Tirmidhi (2/225), Ibn Saʿd in al-Tabaqat (1/435), Abu Nuʿaym in al-Hilyah (4/350), al-Hakim (2/344), and al-Diyaʾ in al-Ahadith al-Mukhtarah (66/75/1) narrated it through Shayban, from Abu Ishaq, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbas, who said: “Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, you have grown grey?’ He said...” and then mentioned it.

Al-Tirmidhi said: “This is a good, singular hadith. We know it from the hadith of Ibn ʿAbbas only by this route.”

I say: Abu al-Ahwas also corroborated Shayban in narrating it from Abu Ishaq al-Hamdani. Al-Hakim narrated it (2/476) and said: “Authentic according to the criteria of al-Bukhari.” Al-Dhahabi agreed with him, and it is as they both said. Although it has been criticised on account of the differing versions of its chain of transmission, Shayban and Abu al-Ahwas agreed in transmitting it with a connected chain by this route, and both are trustworthy; thus, their agreement is authoritative. I then found another corroborator for them: Israʾil, whom Ibn Saʿd cited alongside Shayban.

After the statement from al-Tirmidhi quoted above, he said: “ʿAli ibn Salih narrated this hadith from Abu Ishaq, from Abu Juhayfah, with approximately this wording. Something similar was also reported from Abu Ishaq, from Abu Maysarah, as a mursal report. Abu Bakr ibn ʿAyyash narrated from Ishaq, from ʿIkrimah, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, something similar to Shayban’s hadith from Abu Ishaq, but without mentioning ‘from Ibn ʿAbbas.’ Hashim ibn al-Walid al-Harawi narrated this to us: Abu Bakr ibn ʿAyyash narrated to us.”

I say: Abu Nuʿaym narrated ʿAli ibn Salih’s report from him with a connected chain, then said after it: