“The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, took ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf by the hand and went with him to his son Ibrāhīm. He found him at the point of death, so the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, took him and placed him in his lap, and he wept. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said to him, ‘Are you weeping? Did you not forbid weeping?’ He replied, ‘…’”—and then mentioned it.
Al-Tirmidhī said: “A good hadith.” I say: Ibn Abī Laylā—whose name was Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān—had poor retention. It is therefore apparent that he meant it was good by virtue of its supporting chains. Among them I have identified the hadith of Anas, with a good chain of transmission, whose documentation has preceded under no. 427. I also found another route from him. Ibn al-Sammāk said in al-Awwal min Ḥadīthihi (The First Part of His Hadiths) (fol. 87/2): “Al-Ḥusayn narrated to us: ʿUbayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Tamīmī narrated to us: ʿĪsā ibn Ṭahmān narrated to me from Anas, with a report similar to the hadith of Ibn Abī Laylā.”
However, Ibn Abī Ḥātim mentioned this ʿUbayd (2/2/410), giving his kunyah as Abū Muḥammad al-Bazzār. Abū Usāmah al-Kalbī narrated from him, and he reported from his father: “I do not know him, and the hadith that he narrated is a lie.” I have not identified the hadith to which he referred, and it is certainly not this one. And Allah knows best.
2158 — “When Allah fashioned Adam, peace be upon him, He left him. Iblīs then began to circle around him and look at him. When he saw that he was hollow, he said: ‘I have gained power over a creature unable to restrain himself.’”
It was recorded by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad in al-Zuhd (p. 48) and Ibn ʿAsākir (2/310/1), from Hudbah ibn Khālid, who said: Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated to us from Thābit, from Anas, attributing it to the Prophet. I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission meeting Muslim’s conditions. Muslim also recorded it in his Ṣaḥīḥ (8/31) through two other routes from Ḥammād, from him, but without the words, “I have gained power over him.” For this reason, al-Ḥākim considered it among the reports omitted by Muslim.