In al-Musnad (1/376, 406, 452, and 457), through two other routes from Ibn Masud, who said: “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, informed us that Laylat al-Qadr falls in the middle of the final seven nights.”

1113 — “Allah loves that, when one of you undertakes a task, he perfects it.”

Al-Haythami said in al-Majma (4/98): “Abu Yala narrated it from Aishah, and its chain includes Musab ibn Thabit. Ibn Hibban declared him trustworthy, while a number of scholars deemed him weak.” Al-Taqrib states: “Weak in hadith.”

I say: Al-Hakim authenticated a hadith of his concerning waiting for the prayer (2/301), and al-Dhahabi concurred with him; this was due to their leniency. Al-Suyuti attributed the hadith only to al-Bayhaqi in al-Shuab. Al-Manawi said: “Its chain contains Bishr ibn al-Sari, concerning whom criticism was voiced on account of his Jahmi beliefs. The author should have cited more of its sources, since Abu Yala, Ibn Asakir, and others transmitted it.”

I say: If there is no one in al-Bayhaqi’s chain whose condition requires examination apart from this Bishr, then the chain is strong in my view. For the criticism to which al-Manawi alluded concerning Bishr does not impugn him, since he was trustworthy in himself—indeed, more than that. Al-Taqrib states: “Trustworthy and precise; he was criticized for holding Jahm’s views, then he recanted and repented.”

Even if this view had impugned his transmission, that could not be held against him after he had repented of it and recanted. But if al-Bayhaqi’s chain includes Musab ibn Thabit, then al-Manawi has gone far astray, for he did not identify Musab as the defect in the hadith, but rather a trustworthy and precise narrator! The former is apparently the case. And Allah knows best.

The hadith also has a supporting report that lends it some strength, with the wording: “Allah loves that a worker, when he works, does his work well.” Al-Bayhaqi recorded it in al-Shuab through the hadith of Qutbah ibn al-Ala ibn al-Minhal, from his father, from Asim ibn Kulayb, from Kulayb ibn Shihab al-Jarmi, traced back to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Its occasion was related by al-Ala, who said: Muhammad ibn Suqah said to me, “Let us go to a man of merit.” So the two went to Asim ibn Kulayb. Among what he related to us was that he said: “My father, Kulayb, told me that he attended with his father a funeral attended with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, while I was a discerning and understanding boy. The funeral reached the grave, but the grave was not yet ready for it. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, began saying, ‘Level out the niche of this grave.’ Until the people thought it was a sunnah, whereupon he turned to them…”