By “the first,” he meant the version related by those who narrate from Muʿāwiyah, from Azhar ibn Saʿīd, from Dhu al-Kilāʿ, from ʿAwf. Al-Bukhārī preferred it because it is the version related by the majority from Muʿāwiyah. ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yaḥyā—al-Maʿāfirī, also said to be al-Kilāʿī, Abu Yaḥyā al-Miṣrī—was trustworthy and one of al-Bukhārī’s narrators; thus, his report is anomalous. In sum, the hadith is unquestionably authentic in view of these three chains collectively, especially since the last of them is good, as mentioned above. And Allah knows best.

2021 — “You used to have two days on which you would play, but Allah has replaced them for you with two better days: the Day of Fiṭr and the Day of Aḍḥā.”

Al-Nasāʾī (1/231), al-Ṭaḥāwī in Mushkil al-Āthār (2/211), and Aḥmad (3/103, 178, 235, 250) recorded it through several routes from Ḥumayd, from Anas ibn Mālik, who said: “The people of the pre-Islamic era had two days each year on which they would play. When the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, arrived in Madinah, he said”—and then mentioned it.

I say: Its chain of transmission is authentic. Some of Aḥmad’s chains for it are three-link chains, for in one route recorded by him, Ḥumayd explicitly stated that he heard it from Anas. Its chain is authentic according to Muslim’s criteria. Al-Ḥākim likewise said so (1/294), and al-Dhahabī agreed with him.

2022 — “This authority was once held by Ḥimyar, but Allah wrested it from them and bestowed it upon Quraysh.”

Al-Bukhārī recorded it in al-Tārīkh (2/1/241), as did Aḥmad (4/91), al-Ṭabarānī (1/203/2), Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim in al-Sunnah (folio 107/2, no. 1015—edited by me), and Abu