“Aḥmad narrated it, and it contains men whom I do not know.”

The third and fourth routes are from Saʿīd ibn Wahb and Zayd ibn Yuthayʿ, who said: “ʿAlī adjured the people in al-Raḥbah: ‘Let whoever heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say on the Day of Ghadīr Khumm, rise.’ Six men rose on Saʿīd’s side, and six on mine, and they testified that they had heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say to ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, on the Day of Ghadīr Khumm: ‘Does not Allah have greater right over the believers?’ They replied, ‘Indeed.’ He said: ‘O Allah, whoever takes me as his master …’” The hadith is then cited in full.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad recorded it in the additions to al-Musnad (1/118), and al-Ḍiyāʾ al-Maqdisī recorded it from him in al-Mukhtārah (456, in my edition), through the route of Sharīk, from Abū Isḥāq, from the two of them. Al-Nasāʾī (16) also recorded it through this route, but did not mention Saʿīd ibn Wahb in the chain. He added at its end: “Sharīk said: I asked Abū Isḥāq, ‘Did you hear al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib relate this from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’”

Al-Nasāʾī said: “ʿImrān ibn Abān al-Wāsiṭī is not strong in hadith”—meaning, the narrator who relates it from Sharīk. I say: Sharīk is Ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qāḍī, and he had a poor memory. His hadith is acceptable as corroborative evidence. Shuʿbah corroborated him in al-Nasāʾī (p. 16) and, in part, in Aḥmad (5/366); al-Ḍiyāʾ also recorded it from him in al-Mukhtārah (no. 455, in my edition). Others also corroborated him, as will follow after hadith (10).