I say: Al-Kawthar was declared abandoned by al-Daraqutni and others. However, al-Sāmī corroborated him, as you can see. He is trustworthy, and his name is ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā. Yet the chain leading to him includes Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā al-Minqārī, for whom I have found no biographical entry.

1225 — “I approve for my community whatever Ibn Umm ʿAbd approves for it.”

Al-Ḥākim recorded it (3/317–318), and Ibn ʿAsākir narrated it from him in al-Majlis (280), from al-Amālī (3/2), through Zāʾidah, from Manṣūr ibn al-Muʿtamir, from Zayd ibn Wahb, from ʿAbd Allāh, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said it. Al-Ḥākim said: “This chain of transmission is authentic according to the criteria of al-Bukhārī and Muslim.” Al-Dhahabī agreed with him, and they were correct.

Both, however, mentioned a hidden defect: Sufyān and Isrāʾīl narrated it from Manṣūr, from al-Qāsim ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, who said that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said it—thus transmitting it as a mursal report. Al-Ḥākim also recorded this version, as did al-Ṭabarānī in al-Kabīr, as cited in al-Majmaʿ (9/290).

I say: This is not a discrediting defect, for Zāʾidah—namely, Ibn Qudāmah—is trustworthy and highly reliable, as stated in al-Taqrīb. He conveyed an additional detail, which must therefore be accepted, especially since it came through a teacher of Manṣūr other than the one through whom Sufyān and Isrāʾīl narrated from him. This shows that Manṣūr had two teachers for this report: one transmitted it with a connected chain, while the other transmitted it as mursal. Thus, the latter supports the connected version, as is evident.

The hadith was also narrated with the additional wording: “And I disapprove for my community whatever Ibn Umm ʿAbd disapproves for it.” Al-Majmaʿ (9/290) states: “Al-Bazzār and al-Ṭabarānī narrated it in al-Awsaṭ in an abridged version, omitting the clause concerning disapproval; and al-Ṭabarānī narrated it in al-Kabīr with an interrupted chain. Al-Bazzār’s chain includes Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd al-Rāzī, who is trustworthy though there is disagreement concerning him, while the rest of its narrators have been declared trustworthy.”

He also cited a supporting report from the hadith of Abū al-Dardāʾ, which explains the occasion for the hadith. Its wording is: “I am pleased with what Allah Most High has approved for me and my community: Ibn Umm ʿAbd.” Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it from Abū al-Dardāʾ, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, delivered a brief sermon. When he had finished his sermon, he said: “Abū Bakr, rise and deliver a sermon.” So he rose and delivered a sermon shorter than that of the Messenger of Allah