Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī said: “Then I met Nūḥ, and he narrated to me from Saʿīd ibn Abī Saʿīd al-Maqburī, from Abū Hurayrah, a report like it, but he did not attribute it to the Prophet.”
I say: This chain of transmission is authentic both as a report attributed to the Prophet and as one attributed to the Companion, for Nūḥ is trustworthy, as are those below him in the chain. A report attributed to a Companion does not invalidate one attributed to the Prophet, because a narrator may at times stop a hadith at the Companion; but when he attributes it to the Prophet—and he is trustworthy—this constitutes an additional detail from him that must be accepted. And Allah knows best.
Part of it was recorded by Abū Dāwūd and others from the hadith of Abū Hurayrah, and by al-Bukhārī and others from the hadith of Abū Saʿīd ibn al-Muʿallā. Al-Suyūṭī attributed it to al-Bukhārī from Abū Bakr, which is sheer error, as I pointed out in Takhrīj al-Targhīb (2/216) and elsewhere. It is also found in Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd (1310–1311).
- “Come close, my son. Mention Allah’s name, eat with your right hand, and eat from what is nearest to you.”
Al-Tirmidhī (1/340–341) and Aḥmad (4/26) related it through several routes from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, from ʿAmr ibn Abī Salamah: “He entered upon the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, while food was before him, and he said”—then he cited it.
Al-Tirmidhī said: “It has also been related from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from Abū Wajzah al-Saʿdī, from a man of Muzaynah, from ʿUmar ibn Abī Salamah. The companions of Hishām ibn ʿUrwah have differed concerning the narration of this hadith. Abū Wajzah al-Saʿdī’s name was Yazīd ibn ʿUbayd.”
I say: It has been authentically related with a connected chain from Abū Wajzah and others, from Ibn Abī Salamah. Abū Dāwūd (2/141) and Aḥmad (4/27) related it through several routes from Sulaymān ibn Bilāl, who said: “Abū Wajzah narrated to us from”—in some routes: “informed me”—“ʿAmr ibn Abī Salamah,” with this wording. This is an authentic chain of transmission.
Ibn Ḥibbān (1339) also related it from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Abī Salamah: “My father narrated to us from his father ...” Then he cited something similar.