is weak for this reason. So do not be misled by al-Haythami’s statement (3/155): “It was narrated by Abu Ya‘la, al-Bazzar, and al-Tabarani in al-Awsat, and Abu Ya‘la’s narrators are among those of the Sahih collections.” I say: The narrators of al-Awsat are likewise, as you have learned, so there was no reason to single out Abu Ya‘la for mention. Moreover, you have also learned that Shu‘ayb heard from Ibn Abi ‘Arubah after the latter’s memory had deteriorated. So take note.

I then found another route from Anas, which al-Diya’ transmitted in al-Mukhtarah (101/1–2), through Abu Ya‘la and others, from Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah: Husayn ibn ‘Ali informed us, from Za’idah, from Humayd, from Anas, with this wording. He said: “Ibn Hibban transmitted it from Abu Ya‘la al-Mawsili.” I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission, and it appears in Mawarid al-Zam’an (890). This shows that Abu Ya‘la’s route differs from al-Tabarani’s route, which contains that narrator whose memory had deteriorated. Al-Haythami ought to have clarified this. I then found it in Ibn Abi Shaybah’s al-Musannaf (2/184) through this route. Ibn ‘Adi (25/1) also transmitted it from Aban, from Anas; but Aban—namely Ibn Abi ‘Ayyash—is abandoned. Through his route, Abu al-‘Abbas al-Asamm narrated it in his Hadith (vol. 3, no. 84).

2111 — “He would not sleep without keeping a tooth-stick at hand; when he awoke, he would begin by using the tooth-stick.”

Ahmad (2/117) and Ibn Nasr, in Qiyam al-Layl (p. 43), transmitted it from Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Mihran—a client of Quraysh—who said: “I heard my grandfather narrate from Ibn ‘Umar, in a report attributed to the Prophet, with this wording.” I say: This is a good chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy, apart from Muhammad—namely Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Muslim ibn al-Muthanna ibn Mihran—concerning whom there is disagreement. The stronger view is that he was of middling rank and that his hadith is good. Ibn