“The best means of changing gray hair are henna and katam.” Al-Nasa’i narrated it (2/278 and 279).

Abu Ishaq was Amr ibn Abdullah al-Subay‘i. He was trustworthy, but practised tadlis and had become confused in his later years. Thus, his reports are acceptable as corroborating evidence, except when narrated from him by Sufyan al-Thawri and Shu‘bah, for their reports from him are authoritative.

1510 — “The Hour has drawn near, yet people only grow more avid for this world, and only grow further from Allah.”

It was narrated by al-Hakim (4/324), as well as by al-Dulabi in al-Kuna (1/155), al-Mukhallis in al-Fawa’id al-Muntaqah (1/38/2), Ibn Abi al-Dunya in al-‘Uqubat (78/1), al-Haytham ibn Kulayb in his Musnad (folio 84/2), al-Tabarani in al-Mu‘jam al-Kabir (9787), Abu Nu‘aym in al-Hilyah (7/242 and 8/315), and al-Quda‘i in Musnad al-Shihab (49/2), through the chain of Mukhallad ibn Yazid, from Bashir ibn Salman, from Sayyar Abu al-Hakam, from Tariq ibn Shihab, from Ibn Mas‘ud, attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.

Al-Hakim said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” It is as he said, or close to it, for there is only slight criticism concerning Mukhallad ibn Yazid. However, his version has “Bashir ibn Zadhan,” and for this reason al-Dhahabi criticized it, saying: “I say: This is rejected. Al-Daraqutni declared Bashir weak, and Ibn al-Jawzi accused him.”

I say: This is not Bashir ibn Salman. The former is weak, whereas the latter is trustworthy and among Muslim’s narrators. He is the transmitter of this hadith, as appears in the sources cited above. So do not be misled by al-Dhahabi’s aforementioned criticism, nor by al-Manawi’s following him in this when he said immediately afterward: “How, then, can it be authentic?!”