al-Azraq.” Thus, “ʿAbd Allah” should be deleted; the correct reading is: “Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Azraq,” as found in al-Awsaṭ and al-Musnad.

In any case, I consider the hadith authentic, for it has corroborating reports that strengthen it. The first is from Anas, attributed to the Prophet, with the same wording, with the addition: “that mosques be made into thoroughfares, and that sudden death become widespread.”

Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it in al-Ṣaghīr (p. 233), and through him al-Ḍiyāʾ in al-Aḥādīth al-Mukhtārah (folio 161/2), from Sharīk, from al-ʿAbbās ibn Dhurayḥ, from al-Shaʿbī, from him. Al-Ṭabarānī said: “No one narrated it from al-Shaʿbī except al-ʿAbbās, and no one narrated it from him except Sharīk.”

I say: He had poor retention and was contradicted. Al-Ḍiyāʾ said: “Al-Dāraquṭnī said: ‘Others narrate it from al-Shaʿbī as a mursal report.’” I say: Ḥammād ibn Salamah likewise narrated it from ʿĀṣim ibn Bahdalah, from al-Shaʿbī, attributed to the Prophet, but without the addition. Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī narrated it in al-Fitan (52/2 and 53/2) through two routes from Ḥammād, with this wording. This is a good mursal chain, in light of what is known of Ibn Bahdalah’s standing.

The second is from ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿūd, attributed to the Prophet, excluding the words: “and that it be seen …” Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (3/78/2), as did al-ʿUqaylī in al-Ḍuʿafāʾ (238), Ibn ʿAdī (231/2 and 237/2), and Tammām in al-Fawāʾid (41/1), from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yūsuf, from Sulaymān ibn Mihrān, from Shaqīq ibn Salamah, from him. Al-ʿUqaylī said: “ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yūsuf is unknown in both lineage and transmission; the hadith is not preserved, and no …”