“It is marked as good, and it is as he said—or even of a higher grade—for none of its narrators has been criticized.” The version cited below likewise contains this statement and is closer to this narration of Ibn Umar.

1110 — “Sāriyah, to the mountain! Sāriyah, to the mountain!”

Abu Bakr ibn Khallad narrated in al-Fawa’id (1/215/2): Muhammad ibn Uthman ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us; Ahmad ibn Yunus narrated to us; Ayyub ibn Khawt narrated to us, from Abd al-Rahman al-Sarraj, from Nafi’, that Umar dispatched a military detachment and appointed over them a man named Sāriyah. While Umar was delivering the Friday sermon, he uttered the above words. It was then found that Sāriyah had made for the mountain at that very hour on Friday, although a month’s journey lay between them.

I say: Ayyub ibn Khawt is abandoned, as stated in al-Taqrib. However, Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami narrated it in al-Arba’in al-Sufiyyah (3/2), as did al-Bayhaqi in Dala’il al-Nubuwwah (2/181/1—the Aleppo manuscript), through several routes from Ibn Wahb: Yahya ibn Ayyub informed me, from Ibn Ajlan, from Nafi’, with similar wording. Through this route, Ibn Asakir narrated it (7/6/1 and 13/63/2), as did al-Diya in al-Muntaqa min Masmu’atihi bi-Marw (28–29), except that both of them said: from Nafi’, from Ibn Umar, that Umar ... They also added at its end—as did al-Bayhaqi—“Ibn Ajlan said: Iyas ibn Qurrah also narrated something similar to me.” Al-Diya said: “Al-Hakim—that is, Abu Abd Allah—said: ‘Its chain of transmission and text are singular; I know of no chain for it other than this.’”

Ibn Kathir mentioned it in al-Bidayah (7/131), saying: “Abd Allah ibn Wahb ...,” as in al-Diya’s narration, except that its wording is: “He began calling out three times: ‘Sāriyah, to the mountain! Sāriyah, to the mountain!’ Then the army’s messenger arrived, and Umar asked him. He replied, ‘Commander of the Believers, we were defeated. While we were in that state, we heard a caller cry out three times: “Sāriyah, to the mountain!” So we put our backs against the mountain, and Allah defeated them.’ It was then said to Umar, ‘You were shouting that.’” Ibn Kathir then said: “This is a sound, good chain of transmission.” This is as he said. He then mentioned other routes for it and said: “These are routes that reinforce one another.”

I say: This is open to question, for most of the routes to which he refers revolve around Sayf