This is how its chain of transmission appears in the original: there is a blank between Ka‘b and Ma‘di. The correct reading is probably al-Miqdam ibn Ma‘di Karib, for al-Hafiz cited the hadith in al-Isabah and said: “Abu Nu‘aym said: Abu Salam narrated it from al-Miqdam al-Kindi, from al-Harith ibn Mu‘awiyah al-Kindi.”

Al-Miqdam al-Kindi was Ibn Ma‘di Karib, a well-known Companion. As for this al-Harith, scholars differed as to whether he was a Companion. In al-Tajil, al-Hafiz considered it more likely that he was among those who had lived through both the pre-Islamic and Islamic eras but were not Companions. He made a similar observation in al-Isabah. Ghaylan was Ibn Anas; in al-Taqrib, he is described as “acceptable.” The rest of the narrators are trustworthy, apart from Mansur al-Khawlani, for whom I have been unable to find a biographical notice.

986 — “The ideal party consists of four; the ideal detachment, of four hundred; and the ideal army, of four thousand. Twelve thousand will not be defeated because of small numbers.”

It was recorded by Abu Dawud (1/407), al-Tirmidhi (1/294), Ibn Khuzaymah in his Sahih (1/255/1), Ibn Hibban (1663), al-Hakim (1/443 and 2/101), Ahmad (1/294), Abd ibn Humayd in al-Muntakhab min al-Musnad (73/1), Muhammad ibn Makhlad in al-Muntaqa min Hadithihi (2/3/2), and al-Diya in al-Mukhtarah (62/292/2), through the route of Wahb ibn Jarir: his father narrated to us, saying: I heard Yunus, from al-Zuhri, from Ubayd Allah ibn Abd Allah, from Ibn Abbas, attributing it to the Prophet. Al-Hakim said: “It is authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs, though they did not include it because of a disagreement among those who narrated it from al-Zuhri.”