That is what the two of them said. Although Fudayl ibn Marzuq was among Muslim’s narrators, he was weak in precision. Al-Hafiz said: “He was truthful, but made mistakes.” His shaykh, Abu Ishaq al-Subay'i, became confused in his later years and practised tadlis; moreover, he related it using the ambiguous “from” formula. Fudayl also gave inconsistent versions of its chain of transmission: on one occasion he narrated it from him, and on another he said: “From Atiyyah.” Thus, the hadith is weak through this route.

However, it has a supporting report from Abu Hurayrah, narrated by Sa'id ibn Isa—the neighbour of Muhammad ibn al-Sabah—who said: Hammad ibn Salamah narrated to us from Ayyub, Yunus, and Humayd, from Muhammad ibn Sirin, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: He then related it as a report attributed to the Prophet, without mentioning the garments, and added at the end: “There will be no unmarried person in Paradise.”

Al-Khatib narrated it in the biography of this Sa'id in al-Tarikh (9/87), but did not mention any criticism or accreditation concerning him. He gave him the kunyah Abu Uthman and identified him as al-Balkhi. I believe that he is the one mentioned in al-Jarh wa al-Ta'dil (2/1/51): “Sa'id ibn Isa ibn Talid al-Ru'ayni, Abu Uthman, an Egyptian. He narrated from al-Mufaddal ibn Fadalah, Ibn Wahb, and Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Qasim. My father heard from him, and I asked him about him. He replied: ‘There is nothing objectionable about him, and he is trustworthy.’”

I say: If this is indeed al-Balkhi, then he was an Egyptian who travelled to Baghdad, for he belonged to this generation. And Allah knows best. He was corroborated by another narration: Imam Ahmad (2/345) said: Affan narrated to us; Hammad ibn Salamah narrated to us; Yunus informed us, from Muhammad ibn Sirin, with this hadith, but without its first half or the additional statement. Muslim (8/146) and Ahmad (2/230, 247, and 507) also narrated it through other routes from Ayyub in its entirety, but without mention of the garments. Al-Darimi (2/336) narrated the second half of it through Hisham al-Qardusi, from Ibn Sirin.