2154 — “A Muslim owes his fellow Muslim four duties: to say, ‘May Allah have mercy on you,’ when he sneezes; to respond when he invites him; to attend his funeral when he dies; and to visit him when he falls ill.”

It was recorded by al-Bukhārī in al-Adab al-Mufrad (923), Ibn Mājah (1/438), Ibn Ḥibbān (2064), Baḥshal in Tārīkh Wāsiṭ (p. 217), al-Ḥākim (1/349 and 4/264), and Aḥmad (5/273), through ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Jaʿfar, from his father, from Ḥakīm ibn Aflaḥ, from Abū Masʿūd, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who said it. Al-Ḥākim said: “Authentic according to the conditions of al-Bukhārī and Muslim!” Al-Dhahabī agreed with him.

That is what they said, but it is one of their errors, for several reasons. First, neither al-Bukhārī nor Muslim narrated from this Ḥakīm in their Ṣaḥīḥs; rather, al-Bukhārī narrated from him only in al-Adab al-Mufrad, as you have seen. Second, he is counted among the unknown narrators. Al-Dhahabī said in his entry on him in al-Mīzān: “Only the father of ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Jaʿfar narrated from him.” I say: This is why Ibn Ḥajar did not declare him trustworthy, but merely classed him as “acceptable.” Third, al-Bukhārī narrated from ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Jaʿfar only in suspended form. As for his father, Jaʿfar—namely, Ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥakam al-Anṣārī—al-Bukhārī likewise narrated from him only in al-Adab al-Mufrad.

I say: From this, you can recognize the error of the annotator of Tahdhīb al-Kamāl when he said (7/162): “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” Nevertheless, the hadith is authentic on the authority of Abū Hurayrah, with the wording: “A Muslim owes his fellow Muslim five duties ...” In another version: “Six.” He mentioned these four and added: