But the hadith is authentic, for it has more than one corroborating witness, as will follow. Al-Haythamī then attributed it to al-Ṭabarānī in al-Awsaṭ and said: “He also narrated it in al-Kabīr, attributed to the Companion Abū Umāmah, who said: ‘No one of this community will remain without entering Paradise, except one who flees from Allah as a vicious camel flees from its owners. Whoever does not believe me, then Allah Most High says: “None shall enter it except the most wretched—the one who denied and turned away.” (1) He denied what Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, brought and turned away from it.’ Both of their chains are good.”
Among the corroborating witnesses for the hadith is that which Ibn Ḥibbān recorded (2306), from Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd: “Khalīfah ibn Khayyāṭ narrated to us, from al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Musayyib, from his father, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: ‘By Him in Whose hand is my soul, all of you shall certainly enter Paradise except one who refuses and flees from Allah as a camel flees. They asked, “Who would refuse to enter Paradise?” He replied, “Whoever obeys me will enter Paradise, and whoever disobeys me has refused.”’”
2044 — “By Him in Whose hand is my soul, all of you shall certainly enter Paradise except one who refuses and flees from Allah as a camel flees. They asked: ‘Who would refuse to enter Paradise?!’ He replied: ‘Whoever obeys me will enter Paradise, and whoever disobeys me has refused.’”
I say: Its chain of transmission is authentic according to al-Bukhārī’s criteria. Al-Haythamī said: “Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it in al-Awsaṭ, and its transmitters are those accepted in the authentic collections.” Another corroborating witness is the hadith of Abū Hurayrah referred to above, with the wording: “You shall certainly enter Paradise except one who refuses and flees from Allah as a camel flees.” Al-Ḥākim recorded it through the route of Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Uways: “Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd narrated to us, from Ṣāliḥ ibn Kaysān, from al-Aʿraj, from him.” Al-Ḥākim said: “Authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs,” and al-Dhahabī agreed with him.