Al-Ḥākim narrated it (4/513) and said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic!” Al-Dhahabī agreed with him.

I then found another route by which it is strengthened, Allah willing. Al-Bazzār said in his Musnad (p. 238, its supplementary reports): “Yūsuf ibn Mūsā narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mighrāʾ narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Abū Ayyūb, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, attributing it to the Prophet: ‘The Hour will not come until obscenity, the severing of kinship ties, and bad neighbourliness become widespread, and the trustworthy person betrays his trust.’ It was said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, then what is the believer like?’ He said: ‘Like a bee: it alights without causing damage, eats without breaking anything, and produces something wholesome.’”

Al-Bazzār said: “We know of no route other than this one, and al-Aʿmash narrated from Abū Ayyūb only through this chain of transmission.”

I say: Here it appears as “Abū Ayyūb,” whereas in what preceded it appears as “Ayyūb,” with the kunyah omitted. It is most likely that the correct reading retains it, in view of al-Bazzār’s aforementioned statement: “Al-Aʿmash narrated from Abū Ayyūb only through this chain of transmission.” It is well known that al-Aʿmash narrated extensively from Ayyūb—namely, al-Sakhtiyānī—to the extent that, when they listed those who narrated from him, they mentioned al-Aʿmash first. Thus, had the correct reading been that al-Aʿmash’s shaykh in this chain was Ayyūb, al-Bazzār would not have said this.

So who, then, is Abū Ayyūb in this chain? It appears to me that he is Abū Ayyūb al-Marāghī al-Azdī al-Baṣrī. He narrated from a number of the Companions, among them Ibn ʿAmr, and he is trustworthy; both al-Bukhārī and Muslim narrated from him. This route has previously been discussed, with an additional point of benefit, under hadith no. 2253.

Part of it also has another route, narrated by ʿAmmār ibn Muḥammad, from ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Muslim Abū Masʿūd, from Manṣūr ibn Zādhān, from Abū Juḥayfah, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, with the wording: