to his left three times, and let him ask Allah for its good and seek refuge in Him from its evil.”
Ibn Majah (2/450) recorded it from al-‘Umari, from Sa‘id al-Maqburi, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said it.
I say: This chain of transmission is weak. Its narrators are trustworthy and among the narrators of the two Sahihs, except for this al-‘Umari—whose name is ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umar—for he had poor retention. However, it has a corroborating report from Jabir, traced back to the Prophet, with the wording: “...let him spit to his left three times, seek refuge in Allah three times, and change from the side on which he had been lying.” The remainder is the same. Muslim (6/52), Abu Dawud (2/601, Halabi edition), Ibn Majah as well, al-Hakim (4/392), and Ahmad (3/350) recorded it through al-Layth ibn Sa‘d, from Abu al-Zubayr, from Jabir. Al-Hakim said: “Authentic according to Muslim’s criteria, though neither of them recorded it.” He was therefore mistaken in claiming that Muslim had not recorded it.
- “The man is not as they described him; rather, you are Allah’s witnesses on earth, and He has forgiven him what they do not know.”
Ibn Mandah recorded it with a weak chain of transmission, through Khalid ibn al-‘Ala’, from Mujahid, from Yazid ibn Shajarah, who said: “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, went out with a funeral procession. The people spoke well of the deceased and praised him highly. Then Gabriel came and said”—and he cited the hadith. He said: “It is singular, and its chain contains two weak narrators.” This is stated in the biographical notice on Yazid ibn Shajarah in al-Isabah, where he also said: “There is disagreement as to whether he was a Companion.”
I say: I have not found anyone who mentioned Khalid ibn al-‘Ala’.