“Ten are in Paradise: the Prophet is in Paradise, and Abu Bakr ... and Umar ... and Uthman ...” and so on. It is documented in al-Rawd al-Nadir.

1436 — “Mu'adh ibn Jabal is the most knowledgeable of people concerning what Allah has made lawful and unlawful.”

Abu Nu'aym narrated it in al-Hilyah (1/228), and Ibn Asakir narrated it from him (16/308/1), from Salam ibn Sulayman, who said: Zayd al-'Ammi narrated to us, from Abu al-Siddiq al-Naji, from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, as a report attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.

I say: This is fabricated. Its defect lies in this Salam, who is al-Tawil, and who is a liar, as has been mentioned repeatedly. Zayd al-'Ammi is weak.

Ibn Asakir then narrated, through the route of Muhammad ibn Uthman ibn Abi Shaybah: al-Hasan ibn Suhayl informed us; Abu Usamah informed us, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Jabir, from al-Zuhri, as a report attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with the wording: “The most knowledgeable member of this community concerning what is lawful and unlawful is Mu'adh ibn Jabal.” Despite being mursal, this chain includes al-Hasan ibn Sahl, whom I do not know.

However, the hadith has a strong corroborating report from Anas ibn Malik, whose documentation has already been given under (1224). It is narrated by Abu Qilabah from him. Abu Nu'aym also narrated it through this route with the wording: “The most knowledgeable of my community concerning what is lawful and unlawful is Mu'adh ibn Jabal.” He then narrated it through the route of Suwayd ibn Sa'id: Umar ibn Ubayd narrated to us, from Imran, from al-Hasan and Aban, from Anas, as a report attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with this wording. This is a feeble chain.

I then found the hadith in al-Uqayli's al-Du'afa' (pp. 170–171), through the route mentioned above, in a more complete form, with the wording: “The most merciful of this community toward it is Abu Bakr; the strongest of them in Allah’s religion is Umar; and the most knowledgeable of them concerning inheritance shares