1911 — “Maintain ties with those who cut you off, treat kindly those who mistreat you, and speak the truth even against yourself.”

Abu ʿAmr ibn al-Sammak narrated it in his Hadith Collection (2/28/1): Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad al-Zaʿfarani al-Razi narrated to us; Ibrahim ibn al-Mundhir narrated to us; Husayn ibn Zayd narrated to us, from Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad, from his father, from his grandfather, from ʿAli, who said: When I gathered together the weaponry of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, I found a slip of parchment in the hilt of the Messenger of Allah’s sword. He then cited it.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission. Concerning this al-Zaʿfarani, Ibn Abi Hatim said: “I heard from him, and he was truthful.” Al-Hafiz said in al-Lisan: “He was one of the great, trustworthy hadith masters.”

I say: The rest of the narrators in the chain are known and trustworthy.

1912 — “The prayer of two men, one of whom leads the other, is more excellent in Allah’s sight than the prayer of eight who pray separately; and the prayer of four, one of whom leads them, is more excellent in Allah’s sight than the prayer of one hundred who pray separately.”

Al-Bukhari narrated it in al-Tarikh (4/1/132–193), as did al-Bazzar (no. 461), Ibn Saʿd (7/411), and al-Daylami (2/243–244), through Abu Khalid Thawr ibn Yazid, from Ibn Sayf al-Kilaʿi, from ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Ziyad, from Qubath ibn Ashyam al-Laythi, attributed to the Prophet. Ibn Shuʿayb said: I asked Abu Khalid, “What does tatrā mean?” He replied, “Dispersed.”

I say: This is a weak chain of transmission. This ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Ziyad is unknown. Ibn Abi Hatim listed him (2/2/234), but did not mention any narrator criticism or accreditation concerning him. As for Ibn Hibban, he listed him in al-Thiqat (“The Reliable Narrators”).