And concerning Ibn ʿAqīl, al-Haythamī said: “There is criticism concerning him; nevertheless, his hadith is good.” It also has another route from Jābir. Ibn ʿAdī recorded it in al-Kāmil (folio 304/2) through Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿUmarī, from Ayyūb, from Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir, from him, with the same wording. But this al-ʿUmarī is very weak.
In sum, the hadith is authentic by virtue of this route, especially since it has many supporting reports whose documentation will follow under the wording: “Perform Hajj and ʿUmrah regularly ...” (1200).
- “When you send a messenger to me, send one with a handsome face and a good name.”
Al-Bazzār recorded it in his Musnad (p. 242, al-Zawāʾid): Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā narrated to us; Muʿādh ibn Hishām narrated to us, from his father, from Qatādah, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Buraydah, from his father, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said it. He said: “We know of no one who narrated it with this chain other than Qatādah—authentic.”
The word “authentic” was in fact supplied by the author of al-Zawāʾid, al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Haythamī. Al-Suyūṭī explicitly stated this in al-Laʾālī al-Maṣnūʿah and endorsed it. All the narrators in its chain are trustworthy and are among the narrators of the Two Ṣaḥīḥs.
Al-Bazzār then cited in support of it a report from Abū Hurayrah, attributed to the Prophet with the same wording, through ʿAmr ibn Abī Khathʿam, who narrated to us from Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah. This chain is weak because of this ʿAmr, namely ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Khathʿam. Al-Taqrīb says of him: “Weak.” Al-Haythamī said in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid (8/47): “It was narrated by al-Bazzār and by al-Ṭabarānī in al-Awsaṭ. In al-Ṭabarānī’s chain is ʿUmar ibn Rāshid: al-ʿIjlī declared him trustworthy, while the majority of the imams declared him weak; the rest of its narrators are trustworthy. Al-Bazzār’s chains are weak.”