more sound than Ibn Lahīʿah’s narration, as is evident.

Once you have understood the foregoing, the hadith is strong and free of any hidden defect—unless someone were to insist on, or attempt to find, a flaw in Muḥammad ibn Sahl. Yet those three—Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb, Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, and al-Walīd ibn Kathīr—narrated from him. He was Abū Muḥammad al-Madanī, and all of them are trustworthy. To these may be added Abū ʿUfayr al-Anṣārī and al-Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāh, as recorded by Ibn Abī Ḥātim (3/2/277), who likewise mentioned neither any criticism nor accreditation of him.

However, considering that he was a Successor, that these five narrated from him, and, in addition, that Ibn Ḥibbān included him in al-Thiqāt (3/238), one is reassured about citing the hadith of such a narrator as evidence. This has indeed been the practice of many verifying scholars, especially when his hadith has a corroborating report such as this one, as I shall explain. Thus, al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar made no comment about him in al-Fatḥ (12/182), then explicitly stated on the following page that it was authentic—that is, on account of its corroborating reports—and this is correct, Allah willing.

However, he made an error in reporting it which it is worth noting. He said: “Al-Ṭabarānī also narrated, from the hadith of Sahl ibn Abī Khaythamah (!) from ʿAlī, attributed to the Prophet...” He then cited the hadith under discussion. I say: His mention of ʿAlī in al-Ṭabarānī’s narration is an evident error, as our previous documentation shows. This is further confirmed by the fact that al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr cited it in his exegesis (1/484), through Ibn Mardawayh from al-Ṭabarānī—as mentioned above—except that it appears there, as in al-Fatḥ, as “Abī Khaythamah,” which is a typographical error. Rather, al-Bukhārī narrated it from ʿAlī—as previously stated—through the route of ʿAbdah, from Ibn Isḥāq.

I then found in Ibn Jarīr’s exegesis (5/25), through another route from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Sahl ibn Abī Ḥathmah, from his father, who said: “I was in this mosque—the mosque of Kūfah—while ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, was addressing the people from the pulpit. He said: ‘O people, the major sins are seven.’ The people listened attentively, so he repeated it three times, then said: ‘Will you not ask me about them?’ They said: ‘O Commander of the Believers, what are they?’ He said”—and he listed them. “So I said to my father:”