and it is weak.” I say: The wording recorded by al-Ṭabarānī, as cited in al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr, is: “He liked to encounter the enemy when the sun had passed its zenith.”

Ibn ʿAyyāsh was contradicted in its chain of transmission by Abū Isḥāq al-Fazārī, who said: from Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah, from Sālim Abū al-Naḍr, the client and scribe of ʿUmar ibn ʿUbayd Allāh, who said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Awfā, may Allah be pleased with him, wrote to him, and I read it: “On one of the days when the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, encountered the enemy, he waited until the sun had declined, then stood among the people and said …” Al-Bukhārī (6/91, Fatḥ) and al-Bayhaqī (9/152) narrated it.

Aḥmad also narrated it (4/353–354) by way of Abū Ḥayyān, who said: “I heard an old man in Medina relate that ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Awfā wrote to ʿUbayd Allāh when he intended to fight the Ḥarūriyyah. So I said to his scribe—who was a friend of mine—‘Make a copy of it for me.’ He did so: ‘The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, …’” He then cited it with the wording: “He would wait, and when the sun had passed its zenith, he would advance upon his enemy … then he said.” Its narrators are trustworthy, apart from the unnamed old man.

After citing the hadith in question through Aḥmad’s narration, al-Ḥāfiẓ said: “Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr also narrated, by another route from Ibn Abī Awfā: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, would wait (!) until the sun had passed its zenith, then advance upon his enemy.”

2127 — “He loved squash.”

Aḥmad narrated it (3/177 and 274) from Shuʿbah, who said: “I heard Qatādah relate; he said: I heard Anas ibn Mālik say”—then he cited it. In another wording: “gourd.” He said: