I say: If he meant al-Bazzār’s chain of transmission, that is possible; otherwise, al-Ṭabarānī’s chain is weak. The report appears in Zawāʾid al-Bazzār (pp. 314–315), though the manuscript leaves a blank in place of its chain of transmission. Al-Ṭabarānī also narrated it from Muʿāwiyah ibn Ḥaydah. Al-Haythamī said: “It contains Mukhays ibn Tamīm, who is unknown.”

I say: Ibn Abī Ḥātim mentioned it through his route in al-ʿIlal (2/219–220), and quoted his father as saying: “Fabricated—that is, with this chain of transmission.”

I say: The hadith under this heading renders it unnecessary. I have cited it only so that those without knowledge may not be misled by it.

1635 — “Allah has approved ease for this Ummah and disapproved hardship for them”—he said this three times—“whereas this man has embraced hardship and abandoned ease.”

Al-Wāḥidī narrated it in al-Wasīṭ (1/66/1) from Abū Yūnus Saʿd ibn Yūnus, from Ḥammād, from al-Jurayrī, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shaqīq, from Muḥjin ibn al-Adraʿ: the Messenger of Allah learned that a man in the mosque was prolonging his prayer, so he came to him, took hold of his shoulder, and then said the above.

I say: This chain consists of trustworthy narrators who are all narrators of Muslim, except for this Abū Yūnus, whom I have not been able to identify. However, al-Suyūṭī attributed it to al-Ṭabarānī in al-Kabīr, whereupon al-Manāwī said: “Al-Haythamī said: Its narrators are the narrators of the authentic collections.” It thus appears that al-Ṭabarānī recorded it through a route other than that of the aforementioned Abū Yūnus.

Aḥmad also recorded it (5/32) through another route from Ḥammād, with similar wording. And from Kahmas, who said: “I heard—”