who informed us: Ishaq ibn Muhammad, from Usamah ibn Zayd, from Zayd ibn Aslam, from Abu Salih and Ata ibn Yasar, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: “We were with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, when people began passing by. The Messenger of Allah would say: ‘Abu Hurayrah, who is this?’ I would reply: ‘So-and-so.’ He would then say: ‘What an excellent servant of Allah so-and-so is.’ Then another would pass by, and he would say: ‘Who is this, Abu Hurayrah?’ I would reply: ‘So-and-so.’ He would say: ‘What an evil servant of Allah he is.’ Then Khalid passed by, and I said: ‘This is Khalid ibn al-Walid, O Messenger of Allah.’ He said”—and he then mentioned it.

I say: This is a weak chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy, apart from Ishaq ibn Muhammad, who is al-Farawi. Although al-Bukhari narrated from him, he was deemed weak. Al-Hafiz said: “He was truthful, but became blind and his retention deteriorated.”

Al-Tarsusi was a well-travelled hadith scholar, but he was accused of stealing hadiths. Ibn Hibban included him in al-Thiqat and said: “He often erred.” Abu Awanah narrated from him in his Sahih.

He then narrated it through Ahmad; it is found in al-Musnad (2/360), from Hashim ibn Hashim, from Ishaq ibn al-Harith ibn Abd Allah ibn Kinanah, from Abu Hurayrah, in a shortened wording similar to it, though it does not contain the words, “a sword among the swords of Allah.” Ibn Asakir likewise narrated it through Nuaym ibn Hammad, who said: Abd al-Aziz ibn Muhammad informed us, from Abd al-Wahid ibn Abi Awn, from Saʿid ibn Abi Saʿid al-Maqburi, from Abu Hurayrah. He also narrated it through al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar, who said: Yaʿqub ibn Muhammad ibn Isa al-Zuhri narrated to me, from Abd al-Aziz ibn Muhammad, with the same chain; and through al-Fakihi, who said: Abu Yahya ibn Abi Murrah informed us, who said: Yaʿqub ibn Muhammad informed us, with the same chain.

I say: These are two further routes from Abu Hurayrah by which the hadith is strengthened. All the narrators in the first are trustworthy, so its chain would be authentic were it not for Abu Hatim’s statement that Ibn Kinanah’s narration from Abu Hurayrah is mursal. The narrators in the other route have been declared reliable, so it has a continuous, sound chain, were it not for al-Hafiz’s statement concerning Abd al-Wahid ibn Abi Awn: “He was truthful, but erred.”