“This is a great hadith, momentous in significance. The imams of the Sunnah related it and accepted it, and al-Shafi‘i adorned his Musnad with it.”

I say: Al-Bazzār also recorded it (320, Zawā’id Ibn Ḥajar) through the route of ʿUthmān ibn ʿUmayr, from Anas. This ʿUthmān is Abū al-Yaqẓān al-Kūfī, the blind man, and he is weak. In sum, the hadith is authentic when all its chains are considered together. And Allah knows best.

1934 — “Two groups from my Ummah Allah has safeguarded from the Fire: a group that campaigns in India, and a group that will be with Jesus son of Mary, peace be upon him.”

Al-Nasā’ī recorded it (2/64), as did Aḥmad (5/278) and Abū ʿArūbah al-Ḥarrānī in his Hadith collection (102/2), through Baqiyyah ibn al-Walīd: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sālim and Abū Bakr ibn al-Walīd al-Zubaydī narrated to us, from Muḥammad ibn al-Walīd al-Zubaydī, from Luqmān ibn ʿĀmir al-Wāṣibī, from ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn ʿAdī al-Bahrānī, from Thawbān, the freed slave of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.

I say: This is a good chain. Its narrators are trustworthy, apart from Abū Bakr al-Zubaydī, whose status is unknown; however, he is paired here with ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sālim, namely al-Ashʿarī al-Ḥimṣī, who is trustworthy and among al-Bukhārī’s narrators. Baqiyyah ibn al-Walīd practised concealment in transmission, but he explicitly stated that he had received the narration directly, so we are safe from the harm of his concealment. Moreover, he was corroborated: Hishām ibn ʿAmmār said, “Al-Jarrāḥ ibn Malīḥ al-Bahrānī narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn al-Walīd al-Zubaydī narrated to us,” with the same report. Ibn ʿAdī recorded it (58/2), as did Ibn ʿAsākir (15/100/1).

This is a chain acceptable for corroborative purposes. Al-Jarrāḥ ibn Malīḥ, who was from Hims, was truthful. Hishām ibn ʿAmmār was among al-Bukhārī’s shaykhs, though he was susceptible to prompting; but he was corroborated by Sulaymān, namely Ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn the daughter of Shuraḥbīl. Al-Bukhārī recorded it in al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr (3/2/72) through him: al-Jarrāḥ ibn Malīḥ narrated to us, with the same report.