I say: Al-Ḥākim also declared it authentic (3/125).

The third route: from Abū Sulaymān al-Muʾadhdhin, from him, who said: “ʿAlī called upon the people to testify, saying: ‘I adjure by Allah every man who heard the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, say: “Whomever I am his mawlā (patron), ʿAlī is also his mawlā. O Allah, befriend whoever befriends him, and be hostile to whoever is hostile to him.”’” He said: “Sixteen men then stood up and testified.”

Aḥmad (5/370) and Abū al-Qāsim Hibat Allāh al-Baghdādī, in the second volume of al-Amālī (f. 20/2), recorded it through Abū Isrāʾīl al-Malāʾī, from al-Ḥakam, from him. Abū al-Qāsim said: “This hadith has a good, authentic text.” Al-Haythamī said (9/107): “Aḥmad narrated it, and its chain includes Abū Sulaymān, whom I do not know, unless he is Bashīr ibn Sulaymān. If he is, then he is trustworthy, and the rest of its narrators are trustworthy.” Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar commented on this, saying: “Abū Sulaymān is Zayd ibn Wahb, as appears in al-Ṭabarānī.”

I say: He is trustworthy and among al-Bukhārī’s narrators, but Abū al-Qāsim’s version contains the additional description “the muʾadhdhin,” which he did not mention in the biographical notice of this Zayd. If it is established, it is a useful detail to be added to his biography. However, Abū Isrāʾīl—whose name was Ismāʿīl ibn Khalīfah—is disputed; al-Taqrīb states: “Truthful, but poor in retention.”

I say: Thus, his hadith is good when supported by corroborative reports.

I then added: Al-Ṭabarānī also recorded it (4996) through the route mentioned above, but