as noted in Muʿjam al-Buldān, which states that al-Mughammas lies two-thirds of a farsakh from Mecca and is a place concealed either by hills or by vegetation.

1073 — “The gates of heaven are opened halfway through the night, and a caller cries out: ‘Is there anyone supplicating, that his supplication may be answered? Is there anyone asking, that he may be given? Is there anyone in distress, that he may be relieved?’ No Muslim remains who supplicates to Allah with a prayer except that Allah answers him—except a prostitute who plies her sexual trade, or an unjust tax collector.”

Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Muʿjam al-Awsat (1/88/2, Zawaʾid al-Muʿjamayn): Ibrahim narrated to us: Abd al-Rahman ibn Salam narrated to us: Dawud ibn Abd al-Rahman al-ʿAttar narrated to us, from Hisham ibn Hassan, from Muhammad ibn Sirin, from Uthman ibn Abi al-ʿAs al-Thaqafi, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who said it. He added: “No one narrated it from Hisham except Dawud; Abd al-Rahman alone narrated it.”

I say: He is trustworthy and among Muslim’s shaykhs. Those above him are trustworthy narrators from among the transmitters relied upon by both al-Bukhari and Muslim. Ibrahim, al-Tabarani’s shaykh, was Ibrahim ibn Hashim Abu Ishaq al-Bayyiʿ al-Baghawi, and he too was trustworthy. Thus, the chain of transmission is authentic.

Note: In al-Jamiʿ al-Saghir and al-Jamiʿ al-Kabir (1/408/2), al-Suyuti attributed it to al-Tabarani’s al-Muʿjam al-Kabir, and al-Fath al-Kabir (2/33) followed him in this. This is an error; the correct attribution is to al-Muʿjam al-Awsat, as stated above. Al-Hafiz al-Haythami correctly attributed it in Majmaʿ al-Zawaʾid (3/88), following al-Mundhiri in al-Targhib (1/279). However, al-Haythami made an even more serious error: he cited the hadith in three versions, of which this is one. He attributed the first to Ahmad and al-Tabarani’s al-Muʿjam al-Kabir, this one to al-Muʿjam al-Awsat, and the other to al-Muʿjam al-Kabir. He then said: “The narrators in Ahmad’s chain are the narrators of the Sahih, except that it contains ʿAli ibn Zayd, concerning whom there has been criticism, though he has been declared trustworthy. This hadith has other chains, which will be cited in their appropriate places, if Allah wills.”

I say: The nature of the error is clear: he assumed that this Ibn Zayd was also in the chain of transmission of al-Muʿjam al-Awsat, whereas this is not so, as becomes clear from even the slightest examination of the chain cited above. Al-Manawi likewise fell into a similar error: he transmitted al-Haythami’s aforementioned remarks under this hadith, which al-Suyuti had mistakenly attributed to al-Tabarani’s al-Muʿjam al-Kabir, and endorsed him in it. Thus, it is one error compounded upon another; and the infallible one is he whom Allah protects.