Likewise, al-ʿIrāqī graded it good, and al-Suyūṭī followed him in this, as cited by al-Manāwī.
It has also been narrated from Ibn ʿAyyāsh by another route. Al-Dūlābī said in al-Kunā (1/43): “Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā narrated to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Wahb informed us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAyyāsh related to me from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Aswad, from Abū Maʿqil ibn Abī Muslim, from Abū ʿUbaydah, the freedman of Rifāʿah ibn Rāfiʿ, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said...” He then mentioned the latter half of it.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim mentioned it in full in the biography of Abū Maʿqil ibn Abī Muslim (4/2/448), through Ibn Wahb by this chain, and said: “I heard Abū Zurʿah say: ‘Abū Maʿqil is not named, and Abū ʿUbaydah was not a Companion.’” As for ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Aswad, I have not found anyone who mentioned him. Al-Haythamī alluded to this when he said: “Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it in al-Kabīr, and it contains someone I do not know.”
2291 — “Among the best deeds is to bring joy to a believer: to pay off a debt for him, fulfil a need for him, or relieve him of a hardship.”
Al-Bayhaqī narrated it in Shuʿab al-Īmān (2/452/2) by two routes from Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb, who said: Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿUthmān—perhaps [this is] ʿAffān—narrated to us: Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Juʿfī narrated to us from Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, from Ibn al-Munkadir, who attributed it directly to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Sufyān said: Ibn al-Munkadir was asked, “What remains that is pleasurable?” He replied, “Being generous to one’s brethren.”
I say: This is a mursal chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy, apart from al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Juʿfī, whom I could not identify. It is possible that he is al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAṭiyyah al-Qurashī al-Kūfī, for he was among the shaykhs of ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan; and the manuscript of Shuʿab al-Īmān is poor. If he is indeed that person, then he is truthful, as Abū Ḥātim said. It is also possible that he is al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Walīd al-Juʿfī, for he belongs to this generation, and this seems more likely; he is trustworthy, for if