I say: It is weak because of Abu Ja'far al-Razi, for he had poor retention. Al-Tahawi, in al-Mushkil (1/31), and al-Bayhaqi transmitted it with a connected chain, by way of Uqayl, from Ibn Shihab, who said: Anas ibn Malik informed me of it—though without the words, “And when you stop to rest …” Its chain includes Ruwaym ibn Yazid. Ibn Abi Hatim included his biography (1/2/523), but mentioned neither criticism nor endorsement of him. Al-Khatib, however, declared him trustworthy; thus, the chain is authentic, as mentioned previously under no. (682). There, I cited part of this hadith with source references that you will not find here, so refer to them if you wish.

Abd Allah ibn Salih differed from him, saying: Al-Layth related it to me, but without mentioning Anas ibn Malik. Al-Tahawi recorded it, and Abd Allah is weak. However, the hadith has a supporting narration from Jabir. Its narrators are trustworthy, and it has no defect apart from al-Hasan al-Basri’s ambiguous use of the transmission formula “from.” For that reason, I cited it in the other book (1140), since it is longer than this version. Thus, the hadith is good on account of it. And Allah knows best.

It also has another supporting narration from Abu Hurayrah, attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with similar wording. Muslim (6/54), al-Tahawi, Ibn Hibban (972), al-Bayhaqi, and others recorded it.

Duljah, pronounced with either u or a in its first vowel, means travelling by night. Ta'ris means a traveller’s stopping late at night to sleep and rest.

1358 — “The first matter for which a servant will be called to account on the Day of Resurrection is the prayer. If it is sound, all the rest of his deeds will be sound; but if it is unsound, all the rest of his deeds will be unsound.”

Al-Tabarani narrated it in al-Awsat (13/2 of its Zawa'id section): Ahmad—he is Ibn [a blank in the original]—narrated to us; Isma'il ibn Isa al-Wasiti narrated to us; Ishaq ibn Yusuf al-Azraq narrated to us; al-Qasim ibn Uthman narrated to us, from Anas, attributing it to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. He said: “It is narrated from Anas only through this chain; Ishaq alone narrated it.” The author of al-Zawa'id said: “That is what he said.”