Al-Haytham then narrated it, as did al-Ḍiyāʾ (69–71), from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith—who is Ibn ʿAyyāsh—from Sulaymān ibn Mūsā, from Makḥūl, from Abū Salām al-Bāhilī, from Abū Umāmah al-Bāhilī, from ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit, with the same wording.

I say: Its narrators are trustworthy, notwithstanding the aforementioned discrepancy in its chain; however, I do not know Abū Salām al-Bāhilī. It has been said that he was Abū Salām al-Aʿraj. Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Maryam narrated it from Abū Salām al-Aʿraj, from al-Miqdām ibn Maʿdī Karib, from ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit, with similar wording. Aḥmad recorded it (5/314, 316, and 326). This Abū Bakr is weak because he became confused in his later years.

Saʿīd ibn Yūsuf also followed him, from Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, from Abū Salām, with similar wording. Aḥmad recorded it (5/326). Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr is trustworthy, but the narrator from him, Saʿīd ibn Yūsuf al-Raḥabī al-Ṣanʿānī, is weak. Were it not for his weakness, it would have been possible to say that this Abū Salām was Mamtūr the Abyssinian, since Ibn Abī Kathīr narrated from him frequently. This is further supported by the fact that Abū Bakr ibn Abī Maryam described him in his narration as al-Aʿraj, and he was Mamtūr himself. And Allah knows best.

There is another discrepancy in the reports from Makḥūl: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Thawbān said: from his father, from Makḥūl, from ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit. Ibn Bishrān recorded it in al-Amālī (87/2).

I say: He omitted two intermediaries between Makḥūl and ʿUbādah. Perhaps this was from Makḥūl himself, for he was known for concealment in transmission. And Allah knows best. In sum, the hadith is authentic when the two routes from ʿUbādah are taken together, especially since there is a third route from him, with a sound chain and similar wording, which follows:

“He would take a tuft of wool from the side of a camel from the spoils of war and say: ‘I have no more right to it than any one of you.’ Then he would say: ‘Beware of misappropriating war booty, for such misappropriation will bring disgrace upon its perpetrator on the Day of Resurrection. So hand over even the thread and the needle, and whatever exceeds them. Wage jihad in the cause of Allah, whether near or far, at home or while travelling, for jihad is a gate of Paradise; it delivers its practitioner from worry and grief. Establish Allah’s fixed legal penalties upon those near and far, and do not let the blame of any blamer deter you in the cause of Allah.’”