He also narrated it through Sufyan: Husayn ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami narrated to us, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Layla, in a report attributed to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. Muhammad ibn Fudayl differed from him, narrating it from Husayn ibn Abd al-Rahman, from Ibn Abi Layla, from Abu Ayyub, may Allah be pleased with him, in a report attributed to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, with the same wording. Al-Hakim narrated it, and both he and al-Dhahabi remained silent regarding it—apparently because of this discrepancy; otherwise, all its narrators are trustworthy.

Abu Nu'aym then narrated a corroborating report for it (1/10) through Abu Asim Qays ibn Nusayr al-Asadi: Abu Mu'awiyah narrated to us, from al-A'mash, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurayrah, in a report attributed to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, with the same wording. This chain meets the conditions of al-Bukhari and Muslim, except for this Qays, for whom I could not find a biographical entry. However, Abu Nu'aym has another route for it (1/8), through al-Mughirah ibn Muslim, from Matar al-Warraq and Hisham ibn Hassan, from Muhammad ibn Sirin, from Abu Hurayrah, with the same wording.

I say: This is an authentic chain, whose narrators are trustworthy. Al-Warraq has been criticized with respect to his retention, but he is corroborated here; thus, he strengthens the hadith, as is evident. As for the second part of the hadith, it is found in the two Sahihs and elsewhere through other routes from Abu Hurayrah, in similar wording, as its documentation was given above.

1019 — “If Usamah were a girl, I would dress and adorn her until she became sought after.”

It was narrated by Ibn Majah (no. 1976), Ahmad (6/139 and 222), Ibn Sa'd (4/43), Abu Ya'la (3/1131), and Ibn Asakir (2/346/1–2), through Sharik, from al-Abbas ibn Dhurayh, from al-Bahi, from Aishah, who said: Usamah stumbled over the threshold of the door and suffered a gash to his face. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said, “Remove the harm from him.” But I found it repulsive, so he began to suck the blood from his face and spit it out. Then he spoke the words quoted above.

I say: This chain is weak because of Sharik, namely Sharik ibn Abd Allah al-Qadi, for he is weak due to his frequent errors. Therefore, al-Hafiz al-Iraqi’s statement, after attributing it to Ahmad, that “Its chain is authentic” is incorrect; and the same applies to al-Busiri’s statement in al-Zawa'id: “Its chain is authentic.”