at times from Ibn Jurayj, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Ibn ʿAmr; and at other times from ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, from his father, from his grandfather, Ibn ʿAmr. There is no doubt in my view that the hadith is authentic in light of all these routes, as explained above. Declaring it defective because, in certain versions of the first route from Anas, it stops at the Companion—as some have done—is not warranted, given what you have learned of its weakness both as a Companion report and as a report attributed to the Prophet. It therefore cannot be opposed to the established authenticity arising from the combined force of the two routes, as is apparent—especially since there are corroborating reports to which reference has already been made. Among them is the Prophet’s—peace and blessings be upon him—statement to ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr himself: “Write, for by Him in Whose hand is my soul, nothing comes forth from it but the truth.” Its documentation has already been given under no. (1532), through routes from him; consult it.

This is what Allah has made easy for me in investigating and authenticating this hadith. If I have been guided to what is correct in this, then all praise, gracious favor, and bounty belong to Him. Otherwise, I ask Allah’s forgiveness and repent to Him for everything that does not please Him. Indeed, He is the Possessor of immense bounty, the Ever-Accepting of repentance, the Most Merciful.

Note: In Musnad al-Shihāb, the wording appears as: “... Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn ʿUqbah,” meaning, “from his paternal uncle, Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah.” Above, however, it reads: “Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm, the nephew of Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah,” and this is the established wording in the two sources cited before it. And Allah knows best.

2027 — “Eat it, for by my life, if anyone has taken payment for a false healing incantation, then you have taken payment for a genuine healing incantation.”

It was narrated by Abū Dāwūd (3420, 3896, 3897), al-Nasāʾī in ʿAmal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah (1032)—and from him by Ibn al-Sunnī (no. 624)—al-Ṭaḥāwī in Sharḥ al-Maʿānī (2/269), al-Ḥākim (1/559–560), al-Ṭayālisī (1362), and Aḥmad (5/210–211), through the route of al-Shaʿbī, from Khārijah ibn al-Ṣalt, from his uncle: