“Its narrators are reliable.” He said the same in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid (1/171), adding: “Among the narrators of Ibn Masʿūd’s report is al-Muʿallā al-Kindī, whom Ibn Ḥibbān declared reliable.”

I say: He cited it (7/492), as did Ibn Abī Ḥātim (4/1/320), with al-Aʿmash narrating from him and no further information; thus, he is unknown. Al-Mundhirī made no comment on it in al-Targhīb (1/42), but said: “The chain of the report attributed to the Prophet is good.”

I say: It is as he said. All its narrators are reliable and are among Muslim’s narrators, apart from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ajlaḥ, who is truthful, as stated in al-Taqrīb.

2020 — “Storytellers are of three kinds: a ruler, one appointed by a ruler, or an opportunist.”

Ibn Wahb transmitted it in al-Jāmiʿ (p. 88), and from him Ibn ʿAsākir in al-Tārīkh (6/71/2); as did al-Bukhārī in al-Tārīkh (2/1/243–244), Aḥmad (6/22, 28), and al-Rūyānī as well in his Musnad (24/122/2), and from him Ibn ʿAsākir also—all through Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ, from Azhar ibn Saʿīd, from Dhū al-Kilāʿ, from ʿAwf ibn Mālik, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said it.

I say: This chain contains reliable, well-known narrators, apart from Dhū al-Kilāʿ. Concerning him, Ibn Abī Ḥātim said (2/1/448): “A cousin of Kaʿb al-Aḥbār, Abū Shurayḥīl, a Syrian; Azhar ibn Saʿīd narrated from him.” He mentioned neither criticism nor accreditation concerning him. Ibn Ḥibbān listed him in al-Thiqāt (4/223). Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr included him in al-Istīʿāb and discussed him at length in his biographical entry (2/471–474). Among what is mentioned there is: