I say: This is an authentic chain according to Muslim’s criteria; thus, the hadith is established as authentic through this route, praise be to Allah.

Al-Mundhirī said in al-Targhīb (1/146): “Al-Ṭabarānī related it with a good chain of transmission.”

Al-Haythamī said (2/249): “Its narrators are trustworthy.”

1389 — “When a man calls a hypocrite, ‘O master,’ he has angered his Lord.”

Al-Ḥākim recorded it (4/311), as did Abū Nuʿaym in Akhbār Iṣfahān (2/198) and al-Khaṭīb (5/454), through ʿUqbah ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Aṣamm: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Buraydah narrated to us from his father, attributing it to the Prophet with this wording. Al-Ḥākim said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” Al-Dhahabī commented: “I say: ʿUqbah is weak.” He said the same in al-Mīzān. In al-Jāmiʿ, it is attributed to al-Ḥākim and al-Bayhaqī in al-Shuʿab, and then marked as weak.

I say: However, this al-Aṣamm was corroborated in its narration by Qatādah, with the wording: “Do not call a hypocrite ‘our master.’” This has preceded under no. 370; thus, the hadith is good on account of it.

1390 — “When a servant says, ‘There is no god but Allah, and Allah is the Greatest,’ Allah says: ‘My servant has spoken the truth: there is no god but I, and I am the Greatest.’ When the servant says, ‘There is no god but Allah alone,’ He says: ‘My servant has spoken the truth: there is no god but I alone.’ When he says, ‘There is no god but Allah, who has no partner,’ He says: ‘My servant has spoken the truth: there is no god but I, and I have no partner.’ When he says, ‘There is no god but Allah; to Him belong all dominion and praise,’ He says: ‘My servant has spoken the truth: there is no god but I’