“Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib passed by me tonight amid a company of angels, with two wings stained with blood, their primary feathers white.” Its chain of transmission is authentic up to Ibn al-Mukhtār, but it has a double break, for Ibn al-Mukhtār was among the Followers of the Followers. Al-Ḥāfiẓ cited it from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah with this wording, but without the phrase, “their primary feathers white,” and said: “Al-Tirmidhī and al-Ḥākim narrated it with a chain meeting Muslim’s criteria.” I did not find it in either of their works except with the wording cited above from Abu Hurayrah. Allah knows best.
Then I found it in al-Ḥākim (3/212), through the route of Ḥammād ibn Salamah, from ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Mukhtār, from Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, from Abu Hurayrah, traced back to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with the wording: “Jaʿfar passed by tonight amid a company of angels, his two wings dyed with blood and his heart pure.” He said: “Authentic according to Muslim’s criteria,” and al-Dhahabī agreed with him. It is as they said.
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Ibn Saʿd (2/129) also narrated, through the route of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā, from Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, from Abu al-Yusr, from Abu ʿĀmir, a report traced back to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, within a hadith. Its narrators are trustworthy, except that Ibn Abī Laylā had poor retention; thus, his hadith is sound as corroborative evidence.
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Al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib said: When news of Jaʿfar’s death reached the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, he was deeply affected by it. Then Gabriel came to him and said: “Allah has granted Jaʿfar two wings, stained with blood, with which he flies among the angels.”
Al-Ḥākim (3/40) narrated it through the route of ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd al-Ghaffār: al-Aʿmash narrated to us, from ʿAdī ibn Thābit, from al-Barāʾ. He said: “This hadith has several routes from al-Barāʾ.” Al-Dhahabī objected, saying: “I say: All of them from al-Barāʾ are weak.”
I say: What has preceded is sufficient; the defect in this chain is this ʿAmr, for his hadith is abandoned.