I say: Its narrators are trustworthy, except Ibn Arzab, who is unknown. Perhaps al-Tirmidhi graded it good because he knew that it had been corroborated, as indicated by al-Thaqafi’s preceding statement: “Al-Dahhak ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Arzab and others narrated it.” Abu Burdah also corroborated him from Abu Musa, as in the first chain; its narrators are trustworthy except al-Harithi Abu Yahya, who is weak, as al-Daraqutni stated. Thus, taken together, the hadith’s chains render it good, at the very least.

1409 — “He liked the Emigrants and the Ansar to stand immediately behind him, so that they might learn from him.”

Ibn Majah (977), Ibn Hibban (87), al-Hakim (1/218), and Ahmad recorded it through several chains from Humayd al-Tawil, from Anas ibn Malik, who cited it as a report traced to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Al-Hakim said: “Authentic according to the criteria of al-Bukhari and Muslim.” Al-Dhahabi agreed with him, and they were correct.

1410 — “When he was resident, he would observe devotional retreat during the last ten days of Ramadan; and when he travelled, he would observe retreat for twenty days the following year.”

Imam Ahmad (3/104) recorded it, as did Ibn Hibban (918) through him: Ibn Abi Adi narrated to us from Humayd, from Anas, who cited it as a report traced to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. He said: “I have heard this hadith only from Ibn Abi Adi, from Humayd, from Anas.”

I say: Its chain of transmission is authentic and meets the criteria of al-Bukhari and Muslim. Al-Saffarini’s statement in Sharh al-Thulathiyyat (1/634), “I say: Its chain is good, as indicated by al-Jalal al-Suyuti and stated by al-Manawi in Sharh al-Jami al-Saghir,” is remarkably deficient—especially on the part of al-Suyuti. For Ibn Abi Adi, whose name was Muhammad ibn Ibrahim, is trustworthy and relied upon in both Sahih collections; the same is true of Humayd al-Tawil. If it is said that he lowered it from authentic to good only because Humayd practised tadlis and did not explicitly state that he heard it, the response is from two angles: