the two Sahihs and other collections. It is mass-transmitted, as Ibn Abd al-Barr stated in al-Tamhid. I have discussed this matter at length, named those who contradicted Hafs in al-Da‘ifah (3897), and refuted this falsifier’s claim that Hafs’s hadith is authentic with material too extensive to mention here.

He likewise adduced a fabricated hadith from the reports of the Ibadis, which states: “Do not set forth likenesses for Allah, and do not describe Him as subject to displacement, for He is everywhere.” I have demonstrated its falsity and exposed its defects in al-Da‘ifah (5332). What is strange and astonishing about this fool is that he transmitted the hadith from the book Musnad al-Rabi‘ ibn Habib—the sole book authored by the Ibadis—to which the aforementioned man resorted in accordance with the Jewish maxim, “The end justifies the means.” This is because it contains a refutation of the Hadith of the Divine Descent, which the scholars of speculative theology have conventionally interpreted as displacement, thereby distorting words from their proper places and turning people away from faith in the Divine Descent. More astonishing still is that its statement, “for He is everywhere,” is among the statements on account of which this fool himself declares others unbelievers (p. 127 of his annotations on Ibn al-Jawzi). Yet he narrated this fabricated Ibadi hadith in order to nullify the mass-transmitted Hadith of the Divine Descent. Is this not among the strongest proofs that he proceeds from that Jewish maxim and is thereby driven to invalidate authentic hadiths?! Examples of this are many—indeed, exceedingly many. For now, however, this Hadith of Mercy and what has been mentioned along with it suffice us. Allah is the One whose help is sought.

13-937—(From al-Irbad ibn Sariyah, concerning the exhortation.)

I had previously traced it there through the well-known route found in the Sunan collections and elsewhere, narrated by Abd al-Rahman ibn Amr al-Sulami from him. I declared it authentic because a number of reliable narrators reported it from Abd al-Rahman, in addition to Ibn Hibban’s declaring him reliable, and because those who authenticated this hadith included al-Tirmidhi, Ibn Hibban, al-Hakim, Abu Nu‘aym, and al-Diya’ al-Maqdisi.

I would add here:

It was also authenticated by another group of hadith masters, such as al-Bazzar, al-Harawi, and Abu al-Abbas al-Dughuli,