The hadith also has a corroborating report from Abū Thaʿlabah al-Khushanī, attributed to the Prophet with a similar wording, through a weak chain of transmission. I have cited it in al-Mishkāt (5144).

1701 — “Among you are men whom We leave to their faith; among them is Furāt ibn Ḥayyān.”

Al-Bukhārī, in al-Tārīkh (4/1/128), Abū Dāwūd (2652), al-Ḥākim (2/115), al-Bayhaqī (9/147), Aḥmad (4/336), and Abū Nuʿaym, in al-Ḥilyah (2/18), reported it through Sufyān al-Thawrī, from Abū Isḥāq, from Ḥārithah ibn Muḍarrib, from Furāt ibn Ḥayyān: “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, ordered that he be killed. He was a spy for Abū Sufyān and an ally of a man from the Anṣār. He passed by a gathering of the Anṣār and said, ‘I am a Muslim.’ A man from the Anṣār said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, he says that he is a Muslim.’ The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then said …” Then he cited it.

Al-Ḥākim said: “Authentic according to the criteria of al-Bukhārī and Muslim.” Al-Dhahabī concurred with him! That is what the two of them said. Yet Ḥārithah ibn Muḍarrib was not narrated from by either al-Bukhārī or Muslim; al-Bukhārī only narrated from him in al-Adab al-Mufrad. He is, however, trustworthy.

Isrāʾīl also narrated it from Abū Isḥāq, except that he said, “from one of the Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him,” without naming him. He also added: “men to whom I give nothing.”

I say: In my view, the establishment of this addition is open to question, for al-Thawrī was the most reliable of narrators from Abū Isḥāq al-Sabīʿī; therefore, Isrāʾīl’s addition over his report is not accepted. Perhaps he received it from his grandfather after the latter had become confused; indeed, this is the apparent explanation. As for al-Thawrī, he narrated from him before that confusion. Zakariyyā ibn Abī Zāʾidah also corroborated him from Abū Isḥāq and added the addition with the wording: