In a version recorded by Ahmad, likewise through Ibn Lahi'ah, from Yazid ibn ʿAmr, from Abu ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Hubuli, from Abu Fatimah al-Azdi—or al-Asadi—who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said to me: “O Abu Fatimah, if you wish to meet me, then increase your prostration.” Its narrators are trustworthy apart from Ibn Lahi'ah, whose memory was poor. The first chain of transmission is more authentic, because al-Dulabi relates it through ʿAbd Allah ibn Yazid al-Muqriʾ from him, and he is reliable in his reports from him. And Allah knows best.

In sum, the hadith is authentic, except for the passage concerning jihad, since I do not know the state of its chain of transmission in al-Tabarani, and have not found any corroborating report for it. And Allah Most High knows best.

Then I came across the hadith in the twenty-second volume of al-Tabarani’s al-Muʿjam al-Kabir, which has recently been published in an edition prepared by our virtuous brother Hamdi ʿAbd al-Majid al-Salafi. He gifted it to me along with the preceding volumes; may Allah reward him well. I found the hadith there as no. (810), through the route of Zayd ibn Waqid, from Sulayman ibn Musa, from Kathir ibn Murrah, that Abu Fatimah related to him, saying: “I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, tell me of a deed ...’” The hadith is like the first version recorded by al-Nasaʾi, but includes all four passages. Its narrators are trustworthy apart from Bakr ibn Sahl, al-Tabarani’s shaykh. Al-Dhahabi said: “People transmitted from him, and his standing is near acceptable.” Al-Nasaʾi said: “Weak.”

I say: Our brother Hamdi judged it defective, saying: “Sulayman ibn Musa did not meet Kathir ibn Murrah.”

I say: This is the view of Abu Mushir, but in my opinion it is open to question, for both were Syrian Successors, even though Kathir was earlier. Al-Bukhari mentioned him in al-Tarikh al-Saghir (p. 95), in the chapter on those who died “between eighty and ninety,” and mentioned (p. 137) that Sulayman ibn Musa lived until the year