“Al-Ṭabarānī reported it, and its chain includes Zurayq ibn Abī Zurayq, whom I do not know, while the rest of its narrators are trustworthy.” One of al-Manāwī’s errors is that he cited this statement of al-Haythamī under the hadith of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, thus giving the impression that al-Ṭabarānī reported it from Zurayq.

I say: The chain of transmission is authentic, for all its narrators are trustworthy.

1699 — “The one who takes back his gift is like a dog that eats until, when it is full, it vomits; then it returns to its vomit and eats it.”

Ibn Mājah (2384) and Aḥmad (2/259) reported it through ʿAwf, from Khilās, from Abū Hurayrah, attributed to the Prophet with this wording.

I say: Its narrators are trustworthy, but Aḥmad said: “Khilās did not hear anything from Abū Hurayrah.” Al-Bukhārī mentioned in al-Tārīkh that his narrations from him were from a written record. Yet the hadith is authentic, for it has corroborating reports from Ibn ʿAbbās, Ibn ʿAmr, and others. I have cited some of them in al-Irwāʾ (1621).

1700 — “Among my ummah are people who will be given rewards like those of its earliest members: they condemn wrongdoing.”

Aḥmad (4/62 and 5/375) reported it: Zayd ibn al-Ḥubāb narrated to us; Sufyān informed me, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, who said: I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥaḍramī say: Someone who heard the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, informed me that he said”—then he mentioned it.

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. All of its narrators are among the narrators of the Ṣaḥīḥ collections. There is some criticism concerning Zayd ibn al-Ḥubāb, but it is not detrimental, Allah willing. As for the Companion’s anonymity, it is certainly not detrimental, since the Companions are upright.