through reports from a number of people who narrated from him, but he did not mention any criticism or accreditation of him, nor did he mention his date of death. He is therefore unknown in status, so Ibn Hadhlam is to be preferred to him, for he is truthful, as al-Nasa’i stated.

One noteworthy feature of its chain of transmission is that four Companions narrate from one another. Al-Mundhiri cited the hadith in al-Targhib (1/41–42) through Abu Ayyub al-Ansari and said: “Al-Tabarani transmitted it in al-Kabir, and its narrators are trustworthy.” Al-Haythami likewise cited it in al-Majmaʿ (1/170), except that he said: “Its narrators have been declared reliable.”

It has a corroborating report narrated by Kathir ibn Jaʿfar, from Ibn Lahiʿah, from Abu Qabil, who said: “ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr told me that Muʿadh ibn Jabal said: ‘The Messenger of Allah came out to us and said...’” He then mentioned it. Al-Daylami transmitted it in Musnad al-Firdaws (1/1/38—its abridgment), through Abu al-Shaykh, from him with this chain. Al-Hafiz said in his abridgment: “I say: Abu Qabil is weak, as are Ibn Lahiʿah and Kathir ibn Jaʿfar.”

I say: I have not found anyone who declared Kathir ibn Jaʿfar weak. Ibn Abi Hatim included his biography (3/2/150), on the authority of a group who narrated from him, but mentioned neither criticism nor accreditation of him.

Then I found that Ibn Abi Hatim cited the hadith in al-ʿIlal (1/469–470) through another route from Sulayman ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Dimashqi, with this chain, except that he said: “Muʿawiyah ibn Salih narrated to us, from Muhammad ibn Harb, from Buhayr ibn Saʿd,” with the same chain. Thus, he mentioned Muhammad ibn Harb in place of Ibrahim ibn Abi al-ʿAbbas, and omitted Ibn Humayr. Reporting from his father, he said: “This is a false hadith.”

I have not been able to see why it should be deemed false, given the trustworthiness of its narrators—particularly in light of the first route and the corroborating report mentioned above. It has another corroborating report, narrated by Ibn Lahiʿah from ʿAbd Allah—or, in another version, “ʿAbd Allah informed me”—ibn Hubayrah, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Murayj al-Khawlani, who said: “I heard Abu Qays, the freedman of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAs, say: ‘I heard ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr say:’”