“It was narrated by Ahmad and al-Tabarani in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr. Its chain contains ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAqil, concerning whom there is discussion, though he has been declared trustworthy.”

I say: The established ruling concerning him is that his hadith are good when he does not contradict others. Thus, it is more appropriate to deem the hadith defective on account of his teacher.

As for al-Hafiz’s statement in al-Khisal al-Mukaffirah (p. 24, Damascus edition), after attributing it to Ahmad:

“Its narrators are trustworthy; and by another route from ʿUbadah ... Likewise, al-Tabarani narrated something similar in al-Muʿjam.”

We have two observations regarding this:

First: he gives the impression that Ahmad recorded the hadith through two routes, but this is an error. Ahmad has only one route for it with this wording, namely this one.

Second: he gives the impression that ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman is also trustworthy. This is not so, for no one declared him trustworthy apart from Ibn Hibban, who is lax in declaring narrators trustworthy, as al-Hafiz himself explained in the introduction to al-Lisan.

I say: Among its corroborating reports is that Baqiyyah ibn al-Walid said: Buḥayr ibn Saʿd narrated to me, from Khalid ibn Maʿdan, from Abu Baḥriyyah, from Muʿadh ibn Jabal, that the Messenger of Allah was asked about Laylat al-Qadr. He said: “It is during the last ten nights, or on the fifth, or on the third.” Ahmad narrated it (5/234).

I say: Its chain is good, for all its narrators are trustworthy, and Baqiyyah explicitly stated his direct transmission.

“Seek Laylat al-Qadr on the last night of Ramadan.” Ibn Nasr narrated it in Qiyam al-Layl (p. 106), and Ibn Khuzaymah in his Sahih (1/223/1), through ʿAli ibn ʿAsim, from al-Jurayri, from Buraydah, from Muʿawiyah, in a report attributed to the Prophet.