with them both. He said: The Messenger of Allah … Al-Hakim then transmitted it by way of Umayyah ibn Khalid: Sulayman ibn al-Mughirah related to us, from Thabit, from Amr ibn Shuʿayb, from his father, from Abdullah ibn Amr—with similar wording. He said: “Authentic according to the criteria of Muslim.” Al-Dhahabi agreed with him.

I say: Shuʿayb was not one of Muslim’s narrators; therefore, the hadith is authentic, but not according to Muslim’s criteria. The same applies to Amr ibn Shuʿayb. However, I believe that his mention in this chain of transmission is an error. Hammad ibn Salamah narrated it from Thabit in the same manner as Shayban’s narration from Sulayman, without mentioning Amr. Hammad, however, said: From Thabit, from Shuʿayb ibn Abdullah ibn Amr, from his father, who said: “The Messenger of Allah was never seen eating while reclining, nor did two men walk directly behind him.” It was recorded by Abu Dawud (3770), Ibn Majah (244), and Ahmad (2/165 and 167).

The apparent sense of this wording is that the hadith is mursal, since Shuʿayb’s father was Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Amr, as Shayban explicitly stated in his narration—and he was not a Companion. For this reason, al-Mundhiri said in Mukhtasar al-Sunan (5/302): “This Shuʿayb is the father of Amr ibn Shuʿayb. Here, and in the book of Ibn Majah, the wording occurs: ‘Shuʿayb ibn Abdullah ibn Amr, from his father.’ He is Shuʿayb ibn Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Amr. If Thabit al-Bunani attributed him to his grandfather when narrating from him, that is acceptable. But if by ‘his father’ he meant Muhammad, then the hadith is mursal, for Muhammad was not a Companion. If, however, by ‘his father’ he meant his grandfather Abdullah, then the hadith has a continuous chain to the Prophet, and Shuʿayb did hear from Abdullah ibn Amr.”

I say: In my view, the latter is more likely: by “his father,” he meant his grandfather Abdullah ibn Amr, due to Sulayman ibn al-Mughirah’s narration, which explicitly states that the hadith is transmitted with a continuous chain from him. This is further supported by a version recorded by Ahmad with the wording: “I never saw the Messenger of Allah eat …” This is explicit confirmation of what we have stated. And Allah is the Granter of success.