in al-Fawa’id al-Muntaqah (1/149/2), from Buzay‘ Abu al-Khalil al-Khassaf, who said: al-A‘mash narrated to us, from Shaqiq ibn Salamah, from ‘Abd Allah ibn Mas‘ud, attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.

I say: Buzay‘ is abandoned, but he has been supported by another route. Ibn Hibban recorded it (311): al-Husayn ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Yazid al-Qattan informed us; ‘Abd al-Samad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-Nasri narrated to us; Abu al-Taqi narrated to us; ‘Isa ibn Yunus narrated to us, from al-A‘mash, with the same chain. This is a chain whose narrators are trustworthy and known in al-Tahdhib, apart from this al-Qattan, for whom I could find no biographical entry. Perhaps he is mentioned in Ibn Hibban’s al-Thiqat, so this should be checked, since the copy held at the Zahiriya Library lacks the volume containing the rank of his shaykhs. Ibn Hibban heard from him in Raqqah, as stated in his book Rawdat al-‘Uqala’ (p. 5). In any case, he is among the shaykhs upon whom Ibn Hibban relied in his Sahih, and he knew them better than anyone else. Thus, one is reassured as to the soundness of his hadith. And Allah knows best.

I have found a corroborating report for it, but it offers little cause for satisfaction. Its wording is: “There will come upon people a time when their talk in their mosques concerns their worldly affairs. Allah has no need of them, so do not sit with them.”

Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Falaki narrated it in al-Fawa’id (88/1): ‘Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Salih al-Muqri’ informed us; Muhammad ibn ‘Abd narrated to us; ‘Isam narrated to us; Sufyan narrated to us, from Abu Hazim, from Anas, attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.

I say: This chain is very weak, for ‘Isam—namely, Ibn Yusuf al-Balkhi—is disputed over. Muhammad ibn ‘Abd is Muhammad ibn ‘Amir al-Samarqandi. Al-Dhahabi said: “He is known for fabricating hadith.” Al-Khatib, who gave him a lengthy biographical entry, said: “He narrated false hadiths from Yahya ibn Yahya, ‘Isam ibn Yusuf, and a group of others.” Al-Daraqutni said: “He used to lie and fabricate hadith.”

However, al-Hakim narrated it (4/323) through Ahmad ibn Bakr al-Balisi, who said: Zayd ibn al-Hubab narrated to us; Sufyan al-Thawri narrated to us, from ‘Awn ibn Abi Juhayfah, from al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan, from Anas, with the same wording. He said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” Al-Dhahabi agreed with him.