It was recorded by al-Bukhari (6/214), al-Darimi (2/107), and Ahmad (2/283, 409, and 430), through Muhammad ibn Ziyad, from Abu Hurayrah, attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. The wording is Ahmad’s. It is also narrated from him through numerous mass-transmitted chains, with similar wordings, such as: “When a servant prepares [food],” “When one of you is brought [food] by his servant,” “When one of you is brought [food] by the one who prepared it,” “When the servant of one of you comes,” “When the servant of one of you prepares [food],” “When [food] is prepared for one of you,” “When one of you is served,” “When the servant serves,” and, “The slave is your brother, so when he prepares [food]...” Some of these will appear under no. 1297.
- “A person’s greatest blessing and greatest misfortune lie between his jaws.”
Ibn Hibban (2542) recorded it: Muhammad ibn al-Husayn ibn Makram al-Bazzaz al-Baghdadi—in Basra—reported to us; Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna narrated to us; Wahb ibn Jarir narrated to us; my father narrated to us from al-Aʿmash, from Khaythamah, from ʿAdi ibn Hatim, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said—and he cited it.
I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission. All its narrators are trustworthy and are narrators of the two Shaykhs, except for this Muhammad ibn al-Husayn, who is trustworthy, as al-Daraqutni stated. Al-Khatib included his biography in (2/233). Al-Suyuti attributed this hadith only to al-Tabarani, while al-Manawi made no comment on it whatsoever!
- “This Quran was revealed in seven modes, so recite [as you are able], and there is no harm; but do not end a mention of mercy with punishment, nor a mention of punishment with mercy.”
Al-Tabarani narrated it in al-Tafsir (vol. 1, p. 45, no. 45), as did Abu al-Fadl al-Razi in Maʿani Anzala al-Quran ʿala Sabʿat Ahruf (folio 68/2), through Ismaʿil ibn Abi Uways, who said: My brother narrated to us from Sulayman ibn Bilal, from Muhammad ibn ʿAjlan, from al-Maqburi, from Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said—and he cited it.
I say: This is a good chain of transmission. All its narrators are trustworthy and are narrators of the Sahih, though some of them have been subject to criticism that does not lower their hadith below the rank of good.
- “The Throne shook at the death of Saʿd ibn Muʿadh because of the Lord’s joy, exalted is He.”