“It was narrated by Aḥmad, and all its narrators are accepted by the Ṣaḥīḥ collections; the unnamed Companion is Thawbān, if Allah Most High wills.” He then cited it through Thawbān’s narration from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), with the same wording. He said: “Al-Bazzār narrated it and deemed its chain good, except that I do not know his shaykh, al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm al-Bāsānī.”

I say: This is how it appears there, as al-Bāsānī, with an undotted s; but it is actually al-Bāshānī, with a dotted sh, a relative name derived from Bāshān, a village in Herat, as stated in al-Ansāb (2/37). It may also be said with an undotted s, as its eminent Yemeni editor—may Allah have mercy on him—indicated in his note on it (2/36). Al-Dhahabī listed both forms in al-Mushtabih (494). Allah knows best to which of the two this shaykh of al-Bazzār is related. I found its chain of transmission in Zawāʾid Musnad al-Bazzār (p. 297): “Al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm al-Bāshānī narrated to us; Zayd ibn Yaḥyā al-Dimashqī narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Zabar narrated to us, from Abū Salām, from Thawbān,” with the same wording. He said: “We know of no narration of it with this wording except through this route, and its chain is good.”

I say: The first route, from Ibn Zabar, from Abū Salām, from Abū Salmā, is more authentic and better known than this one. Moreover, Ibn Jābir corroborated him in this route; for this reason, I judged that the unnamed freedman in the second narration was Abū Salmā, not Thawbān. Had this narration of al-Bazzār been established, it would have been possible to say that he was Thawbān rather than Abū Salmā. Allah knows best. Al-Suyūṭī mentioned in al-Jāmiʿ al-Kabīr (1/387/2) that this Abū Salmā was named Ḥurayth. Allah Most High knows best. Al-Ṭabarānī also narrated the hadith in al-Awsaṭ on the authority of Safīnah, attributing it to the Prophet, and al-Haythamī said: “All its narrators are accepted by the Ṣaḥīḥ collections.”

Note: The hadith appears in al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr ascribed to Aḥmad on the authority of Abū Umāmah as well. This is an error, the origin of which I do not know. Al-Manāwī was also taken in by it and did not draw attention to it. To my knowledge, it has no basis whatsoever from Abū Umāmah.

1205 — “When a nobleman of a people comes to you, honor him.”

It has been narrated on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Bajalī, and Jābir