“Ali took me by the hand and said, ‘Come with us to visit al-Hasan.’ We found Abu Musa with him, whereupon Ali said: ‘Have you come to visit …’” The hadith then continues in similar wording.

He said: “A good, singular hadith. This hadith has also been narrated from Ali through several routes; some of them attribute it to the Companion and do not attribute it to the Prophet. Abu Fakhitah’s name was Said ibn Alaqah.”

I say: He was trustworthy, but his son Thuwayr was weak, as stated in al-Taqrib. Nevertheless, it is strengthened by the preceding report.

Among its routes is what Hammad ibn Salamah narrated from Yala ibn Ata, from Abdullah ibn Yasar: “Amr ibn Hurayth visited al-Hasan ibn Ali during his illness, and Ali said to him: ‘Do you visit al-Hasan while your heart still harbors what it harbors?’ Amr replied: ‘You are not my Lord, to direct my heart wherever you wish.’ Ali said: ‘Yet does that prevent us from offering you advice? I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: “No Muslim visits his brother except that Allah sends forth seventy thousand angels to invoke blessings upon him …”’” The hadith is similar to the narration of Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Layla, except that it does not mention the gathering of Paradise’s fruits or mercy.

It was recorded by Ahmad (1/97 and 118) and Ibn Hibban (710). Its narrators are trustworthy and are among Muslim’s narrators, apart from Abdullah ibn Yasar, Abu Hammam al-Kufi, who is unknown, though Ibn Hibban declared him trustworthy (3/141–142).

Another of its routes is what Shubah narrated from al-Hakam, from Abdullah ibn Nafi, who said: “Abu Musa al-Ashari visited al-Hasan ibn Ali …” The hadith.

It was recorded by Ahmad (1/120–121 and 121) and Abu Dawud (3098). Its narrators are trustworthy and are among the narrators of the two Shaykhs, apart from Abdullah ibn Nafi, the Kufan Abu Jafar, a freedman of Banu Hashim. Ibn Hibban mentioned him in al-Thiqat (The Trustworthy Narrators) and said, “Truthful,” as cited in al-Tahdhib. I have not found him in the printed edition of al-Thiqat. It has been said that he is the aforementioned Abdullah ibn Yasar, but this is far-fetched, and Allah knows best.

Muslim ibn Abi Maryam also narrated it in abbreviated form, from a man of the Ansar, from Ali, attributed to the Prophet.