“Authentic according to the criteria of al-Bukhari and Muslim,” and al-Dhahabī concurred with him. That is what the two of them said. Yet Muslim did not narrate anything from either Abu al-Ashʿath—whose name was Aḥmad ibn al-Miqdām—or al-Ṭufāwī. Moreover, al-Ṭufāwī has been subject to criticism. Al-Dhahabī said in al-Mīzān: “A well-known, trustworthy shaykh.” Al-Ḥāfiẓ said: “Truthful, but prone to error.” Thus, the hadith is good, Allah Most High willing.

2069 — “Whenever the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, swore an oath, he would say: ‘By Him in Whose Hand is Muhammad’s soul.’”

Ibn Mājah narrated it in his Sunan, nos. 2090 and 2091, from Muḥammad ibn Muṣʿab and ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Muḥammad al-Ṣanʿānī, both from al-Awzāʿī, from Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, from Hilāl ibn Abī Maymūnah, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, from Rifāʿah ibn ʿArabah al-Juhanī, who said: He then cited the hadith.

I say: This is a chain whose narrators are trustworthy and are narrators of al-Bukhārī and Muslim, apart from Muḥammad ibn Muṣʿab and ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Muḥammad. Both are somewhat weak on account of their retention; however, the hadith is good because each corroborates the other. Moreover, both of them have been corroborated. Imām Aḥmad said (4/16): Abu al-Mughīrah narrated to us; he said: al-Awzāʿī narrated to us through the same chain.

I say: This is an authentic chain, for Abu al-Mughīrah—namely, ʿAbd al-Quddūs ibn al-Ḥajjāj al-Khawlānī al-Ḥimṣī—was trustworthy and was likewise among the narrators of al-Bukhārī and Muslim. Al-Būṣīrī mentioned that al-Nasāʾī also narrated this hadith in ʿAmal al-Yawm wa-al-Laylah through two chains—that is, from al-Awzāʿī—one of them meeting the criteria of al-Bukhārī and Muslim, and the other meeting the criteria of al-Bukhārī. However, I have not found it in the recently printed edition of ʿAmal al-Yawm wa-al-Laylah, nor in Tuḥfat al-Ashrāf.