“Truthful, but he makes mistakes, and his memory deteriorated after he settled in Baghdad.”

I say: Thus, through this chain, the hadith rises to the level of authentic through corroboration. And Allah knows best.

1426 — “When you go to sleep, extinguish your lamps, for Satan directs a creature like this toward one like this, and thereby burns you.”

Abū Dāwūd (5247), Ibn Ḥibbān (1997), and al-Ḥākim (4 / 284–285) transmitted it through the chain of ʿAmr ibn Ṭalḥah al-Qannād, who said: Asbāṭ ibn Naṣr narrated to us from Sammāk ibn Ḥarb, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: “A mouse came and began dragging the wick. The servant girl went to drive it away, but the Prophet of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: ‘Leave it.’ It then came with it and threw it before the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, onto the small prayer mat on which he was sitting, burning an area of it about the size of a dirham.” He then said the above.

Al-Ḥākim said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” Al-Dhahabī concurred with him.

I say: It meets Muslim’s criteria, except for Asbāṭ, who has been deemed weak. For this reason, Abū Zurʿah criticized Muslim for including this report of Asbāṭ. Al-Ḥāfiẓ said: “Truthful, but frequently mistaken.” Nevertheless, the hadith is authentic, for it has a corroborating report from the hadith of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sarjis with similar wording, recorded in al-Mishkāt (4303).

1427 — “You have permission to come in to me whenever the curtain is raised, and to listen to my private conversation, until I forbid you.”

Muslim (7 / 6), Ibn Mājah (138), Aḥmad (1 / 1 / 38, 39, 394, and 404), Ibn Saʿd (9 / 153–154), and Abū ʿUbayd (8 / 1) transmitted it from al-Ḥasan ibn ʿUbayd Allāh al-Taymī, from Ibrāhīm ibn Suwayd, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said the above.

Aḥmad said: “My private conversation means my secret; he gave him permission to listen to his secret.”