—who said: “I heard Abū Hurayrah attribute it to the Prophet.” This is an authentic chain meeting Muslim’s criteria. Muslim and others also transmitted it with the wording: “When a servant comes to one of you.” It will appear, Allah willing, under no. 1285.

1044 — “A man visited a brother of his in another town, so Allah, Exalted is He, stationed an angel along his route. When the man came upon him, the angel asked, ‘Where are you headed?’ He replied, ‘I am visiting a brother of mine in this town.’ The angel asked, ‘Are you seeking some favor from him that you wish to cultivate?’ He replied, ‘No; I only love him for Allah’s sake.’ The angel said, ‘I am Allah’s messenger to you, informing you that Allah has loved you just as you loved him for His sake.’”

Abū Bakr al-Shāfiʿī transmitted it in al-Fawāʾid (115/2), and al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Jawharī in Fawāʾid Muntaqāh (27/1), through several routes from Ḥammād ibn Salamah, from Thābit, from Abū Rāfiʿ, from Abū Hurayrah, attributed to the Prophet.

I say: This is an authentic chain meeting Muslim’s criteria, and Muslim transmitted it in his Ṣaḥīḥ (8/12) by this route. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad ibn Nāṣir’s statement in al-Tanbīh (folio 21/2) that it is recorded in the two Ṣaḥīḥs is mistaken, for the hadith is not in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Rather, al-Bukhārī transmitted it only in al-Adab al-Mufrad (350). Ibn Wahb also transmitted it in al-Jāmiʿ (30).

1045 — “Blessing lies in three things: communal gatherings, tharid (bread crumbled in broth), and the pre-dawn meal.”

Abū Ṭāhir al-Anbārī transmitted it in al-Mashyakhah (156/1–20), and al-Bayhaqī in al-Shuʿab (2/426/2), from Dāwūd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Abū ʿAbd Allah al-ʿAṭṭār, who said: ʿAbd Allah al-Naṣrī narrated to us, from Sulaymān al-Taymī, from Abū ʿUthmān al-Nahdī, from Salmān al-Fārisī, attributed to the Prophet.

I say: The narrators of this chain are known and trustworthy, apart from ʿAbd Allah al-Naṣrī, whom I have not identified.

Al-Suyūṭī attributed this hadith in al-Jāmiʿ to al-Ṭabarānī in al-Kabīr and to al-Bayhaqī in al-Shuʿab, on the authority of Salmān. Its commentator al-Manāwī said: “Zayn al-ʿIrāqī said: Its narrators are known for trustworthiness, except for Abū ʿAbd Allah al-Baṣrī.”