In a version recorded by Aḥmad (3/456) and Ibn ʿAsākir (14/290/1), through the route of Shuʿayb, from al-Zuhrī, he said: “ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kaʿb ibn Mālik told me that, when Allah revealed what He revealed concerning poetry, Kaʿb ibn Mālik came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and said: ‘Allah has revealed concerning poetry what you know; what is your view of it?’ The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, replied: ‘The believer strives with his sword and his tongue.’”

This chain too is authentic according to the criteria of both al-Bukhārī and Muslim. The apparent meaning is that al-Zuhrī had two teachers for this report: one of them was ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Kaʿb ibn Mālik, as Maʿmar narrated it from him; and the other was ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kaʿb ibn Mālik, as in this narration of Shuʿayb from him. He was corroborated by Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh, al-Zuhrī’s nephew, who narrated from him with the wording: “Satirize them in verse ...” This has preceded under no. 802.

1632 — “The believer is in a state of goodness in every circumstance: his soul departs from between his sides while he praises Allah.”

Aḥmad recorded it (1/273–274): Abū Aḥmad narrated to us; Sufyān narrated to us, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: “The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, took one of his daughters as she was dying. He embraced her and placed her against his chest, and she died while she was against his chest. Umm Ayman cried out, and she was asked: ‘Are you weeping in the presence of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him?’ She said: ‘But do I not see you weeping, O Messenger of Allah?’ He replied: ‘I am not weeping; it is only mercy. Indeed, the believer ...’”

I say: This chain is authentic; all its narrators are trustworthy. Although ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib became confused in his later years, Sufyān—meaning al-Thawrī—heard from him before that confusion. Perhaps it was for this reason that