I then found the hadith in al-Tabarani (nos. 7182 and 7183), through the chain: al-Muhallab ibn al-Ala narrated to us; Shu'ayb ibn Bayan al-Saffar narrated to us; 'Imran al-Qattan narrated to us from Qatadah, from al-Hasan, from Shaddad, attributed to the Prophet, with the same wording.

Al-Hasan here is al-Basri, who practised tadlis. Concerning al-Muhallab ibn al-Ala, al-Haythami said (4/145): “I have not found a biographical entry for him, while the rest of its narrators are trustworthy.”

I say: There is no harm in citing it as corroborative evidence. And Allah knows best.

1740 — “The people of Paradise are those whose ears Allah fills with people’s favourable praise while they hear it; and the people of Hell are those whose ears He fills with people’s unfavourable mention while they hear it.”

Ibn Majah (4224), al-Tabarani in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir (no. 12787), Abu Nu'aym in al-Hilyah (3/80), and al-Bayhaqi in al-Shu'ab (2/342/1) narrated it through the route of Abu Hilal, who said: 'Uqbah ibn Abi Thubayt narrated to us from Abu al-Jawza', from Ibn 'Abbas, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said—and he mentioned it.

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy, though there is some criticism concerning Abu Hilal—whose name was Muhammad ibn Sulaym al-Rasibi—which does not lower his hadith below the rank of good. Al-Hafiz said of him: “Truthful, though possessing some weakness.” This shows al-Busiri’s laxity when he said in al-Zawa'id (fol. 285/2): “This is an authentic chain of transmission; its narrators are trustworthy!” The hadith itself is authentic, however, for it has many corroborating reports. Among them is a report from Anas, attributed to the Prophet, with similar wording. Al-Bazzar narrated it (p. 326, Zawa'id Ibn Hajar), as did al-Hakim (1/378), through two routes from Thabit, from him. Al-Hakim said: