I say: Yazid al-Raqashi is weak, while the rest of its narrators are among those relied upon by the two Shaykhs. Nor should one be misled by what ‘Uthman ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr ibn ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan narrated: Hammad ibn Salamah narrated to us from Thabit, from Anas, with it. Al-Khatib transmitted it (11/283).

I say: One should not be misled by it, for this ‘Uthman is accused of fabricating hadith. Nevertheless, through the combined evidence of the routes of ‘Abd Allah ibn Qays and al-Raqashi, the hadith is good, if Allah wills.

1680 — “The least severely punished of the inhabitants of Hell on the Day of Resurrection will be a man who is shod with two sandals of fire, from which his brain will boil on the Day of Resurrection.”

Al-Hakim transmitted it (4/580), as did Ahmad (2/432 and 439), through Muhammad ibn ‘Ajlan, who said: I heard my father narrating from Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. He said: “It is authentic according to the criteria of Muslim,” and al-Dhahabi concurred with him. He then transmitted similar reports on the authority of Abu Sa‘id, al-Nu‘man ibn Bashir, and Ibn ‘Abbas. The hadith of al-Nu‘man is found in al-Bukhari (4/243), Muslim (1/136), and others. The hadith of Ibn ‘Abbas is also found in Muslim, and states that the man is Abu Talib. He also transmitted it on the authority of al-‘Abbas; I have previously traced its sources under no. 55. The hadith of Abu Sa‘id is likewise found in Muslim, and one version of it mentions Abu Talib. “Yuhdha” means cut out and fashioned, while “hadhw” means measuring and cutting.

1681 — “When the Children of Israel perished, they took to storytelling.”

Al-Tabarani transmitted it in al-Mu‘jam al-Kabir (no. 7305), as did Abu Nu‘aym in al-Hilyah (4/362), through Abu Ahmad al-Zubayr, who said: Sufyan informed us, from al-Ajlah, from ‘Abd Allah ibn Abi al-Hudhayl, from Abu