This chain is weak because the man and the one who narrated from him are unknown. Al-Ṭabarānī also recorded it through this route, as cited in al-Majmaʿ (5/239).

3. As for the hadith of Abū Dharr, Ibn Lahīʿah narrates it from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hubayrah, from Abū Tamīm al-Jayshānī, who said: I heard Abū Dharr say: “One day, I was walking with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, to his home, when I heard him say: ‘There is something I fear for my ummah more than the Dajjal.’ When I feared that he was about to go inside, I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, what is more fearful for your ummah than the Dajjal?’ He said: ‘Leaders who lead people astray.’” Aḥmad recorded it (5/145).

I say: Its narrators are trustworthy, except that Ibn Lahīʿah had poor retention.

4. As for the hadith of Thawbān, Abū Qilābah ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yazīd al-Jarmī narrates: Abū Asmāʾ al-Raḥabī narrated to me that Thawbān told him that he heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: “What I fear for my ummah is leaders who lead people astray.” Abū Dāwūd recorded it (2/203), as did al-Dārimī (1/70 and 2/311), al-Tirmidhī (3/231, Tuḥfah), and Aḥmad (5/178), through the route of Ḥammād ibn Zayd, from Ayyūb, from Abū Qilābah, with it. Al-Tirmidhī said: “An authentic hadith.”

I say: Its chain is authentic according to Muslim’s criteria. Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr also corroborated him: “Abū Qilābah narrated to us,” with it; and the wording of the chain is his.