Muslims.”

Ibn Numayr, al-ʿIjlī, and Ibn Ḥibbān (4/363) deemed him reliable, while Ibn Maʿīn alone declared him weak. Thus, al-Ḥāfiẓ’s statement in al-Taqrīb, “Truthful, but with some weakness,” itself contains some weakness! Al-Manāwī was misled by this and said in al-Taysīr, “Its chain of transmission contains some weakness.” In al-Fayḍ, he also declared it defective on account of Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh. He overlooked the fact that Ismāʿīl’s hadiths from Syrian narrators are authentic, and this is one of them, for al-Khawlānī was Syrian.

2270 — “There is no ruler without two inner circles of advisers: one that enjoins him to what is right and forbids him from what is wrong, and another that spares no effort to corrupt him. Whoever is protected from its evil has indeed been protected, and he follows whichever of the two gains the upper hand over him.”

It was recorded by al-Nasāʾī (2/186–187), al-Ṭaḥāwī (3/22–23), al-Bukhārī in suspended form (4/401), and Aḥmad (2/237 and 289), from al-Zuhrī, who said: Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to me from Abū Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said it.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission meeting the conditions of al-Bukhārī and Muslim. ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr also corroborated it from Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, with an additional account. It was recorded by al-Tirmidhī (2/58–59), who said: “A good, authentic, singular hadith.” This corroboration, along with the additional account and its detailed documentation, has already preceded under no. 1641.