Al-Baghawī likewise transmits the report in his Tafsīr (7/528) through this very chain, in the wording:

“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ looked at Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbaydillāh and said, ‘Whoever would like to see a man walking upon the earth who has already fulfilled his vow, let him look at this one.’”

The author of Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ attributed the narration to al-Tirmidhī in one of his versions, but that is an error on his part.

In short, when all of these chains and corroborating narrations are considered together, the ḥadīth rises to the level of soundness (ṣaḥīḥ). Although the wordings differ, the purport is identical, as is plain, and al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar declared it authentic in Fatḥ al-Bārī (8/398, Būlāq edition). Allah knows best.

The ḥadīth points to the divine statement: “Among the believers are men who have been true to the covenant they made with Allah; some of them have fulfilled their vow, while others are still waiting, and they have never altered in the least” (Qur’an 33:23).

It also proclaims a tremendous virtue for Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbaydillāh, for the Prophet ﷺ informed that he was one of those who had fulfilled his vow even though he was still alive, awaiting the chance to honor what he had pledged to Allah. Ibn al-Athīr explains in al-Nihāyah:

“An-naḥb means a vow: it is as though he bound himself to confront the enemies of Allah in battle, and he fulfilled it. It is also said that an-naḥb means death, that is, he obligates himself to fight until he is killed.”

Ṭalḥah was in fact killed on the Day of the Camel. Woe, then, to the one who killed him.

127 – Allah, Exalted is He, says: “Son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and place your hope in Me, I shall forgive you whatever you have done and I shall not mind. Son of Adam, even if your sins were to reach …”