Al-Nasa’i (1/300) and Ahmad (4/311–312 and 5/411) narrated it through several routes from ‘Ata ibn al-Sa’ib, from ‘Arfajah, who said: “I was in a house in which ‘Utbah ibn Farqad was present. I wished to relate a hadith, but there was a man among the Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who seemed more entitled than I to relate it. So the man narrated from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, saying, ‘In Ramadan...’” and he then mentioned it.

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. Although ‘Ata ibn al-Sa’ib became confused in his later life, Shu‘bah was among those who narrated from him, and he had heard from him before that confusion. The same applies to Sufyan al-Thawri. Al-Nasa’i also narrated it from him, but placed it among the reports of ‘Utbah ibn Farqad; and al-Nasa’i said that this was an error.

‘Arfajah was Ibn ‘Abdullah al-Thaqafi. Mansur ibn al-Mu‘tamir and others also narrated from him. Ibn Hibban mentioned him in al-Thiqat, and al-‘Ijli said: “A trustworthy Kufan Successor.”

Al-Suyuti cited the hadith from the narration of Ahmad and al-Bayhaqi in al-Shu‘ab, with the wording: “Ramadan is a blessed month in which ...” It appears that this is al-Bayhaqi’s wording, for the versions we mentioned do not contain the phrase “a blessed month.” This addition has also been narrated through another chain by Ahmad (2/425), al-Nasa’i, and others, through Abu Qilabah from Abu Hurayrah, as a report traced back to the Prophet. Its narrators are trustworthy, but its chain is interrupted, as al-Hafiz al-Mundhiri explained (2/69). It also has, in his work (2/67), a corroborating report from the hadith of Salman, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated by Ibn Khuzaymah with a weak chain; and another (2/69), from the hadith of ‘Ubadah ibn al-Samit, narrated by al-Tabarani with a chain containing an unknown narrator.

1869 — “A righteous dream is one of twenty-five parts of prophethood.”