2001 — “In every generation of my ummah are those who are foremost.”

Abu Nuʿaym transmitted it in al-Ḥilyah (1/8), and al-Daylamī transmitted it from him in a suspended form (2/333):

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar—whom al-Daylamī identified as Ibn Fāris—narrated to us: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd Allāh—whom al-Daylamī identified as Ismāʿīl ibn Samawayh—narrated to us: Saʿīd ibn Abī Maryam—whom al-Daylamī identified as Saʿīd ibn al-Ḥakam—narrated to us: Yaḥyā ibn Ayyūb narrated from Ibn ʿAjlān, from ʿIyāḍ ibn ʿAbd Allāh, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with this wording. Abu Nuʿaym, however, said: “For every generation ...”

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. Its narrators are known and trustworthy, and are among those listed in al-Tahdhīb—apart from some slight criticism concerning Muḥammad ibn ʿAjlān—except for Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd Allāh, known as Samawayh. He was a trustworthy hadith master and died in 267 AH. As for ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar, he is ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Fāris al-Iṣfahānī, one of Abu Nuʿaym’s teachers from whom he narrated frequently. Abu Nuʿaym gave his biography in Akhbār Iṣfahān (2/80), as did Ibn al-ʿImād in al-Shadharāt, in the obituaries for the year 346 AH, describing him as righteous.

Al-Dhahabī said in al-Siyar (15/553): “He was among the trustworthy and devout worshippers.” He then mentioned that Ibn Mardawayh and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Sūdhurjānī declared him trustworthy. Al-Suyūṭī attributed this hadith in al-Jāmiʿ solely to al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī, and mentioned in al-Fatāwā (2/462) that he narrated it through the route of Layth ibn Saʿd, from Muḥammad ibn ʿAjlān, with this report. The hadith was also narrated by the hadith master al-Dhahabī in Tadhkirat al-Ḥuffāẓ (2/132), through the route of Abu Nuʿaym. He said: “A very singular hadith, with an acceptable chain of transmission.”