I say: Its chain of transmission is authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs. It was also narrated through Ibrāhīm ibn Muhājir, from Ibrāhīm, from ʿAbd Allāh, with this wording. Ibn Muhājir was weak in retention. It has a supporting report in the hadith of ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, narrated by al-Ḥākim (2/228). Another is narrated, in mursal form, through Abū Bakr ibn Abī Maryam, from ʿAṭiyyah ibn Qays al-Kilābī; Ibn ʿAsākir narrated it (6/282/2). A third, in its entirety, is found in the hadith of ʿAlī; al-Ḥākim narrated it (3/317) and said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” Al-Dhahabī agreed with him.

2302 – “Whoever bears the loss of three of his own children, seeking Allah’s reward, will enter Paradise.” A woman asked, “Or two?” He said, “Or two.”

It was narrated by al-Bukhārī in al-Tārīkh (3/2/421), al-Nasāʾī (1/264), and Ibn Ḥibbān (721), from Bukayr ibn ʿAbd Allāh, from ʿImrān ibn Nāfiʿ, from Ḥafṣ ibn ʿUbayd Allāh, from Anas, attributed to the Prophet, with this wording. The words, “A woman asked ...,” do not appear in al-Bukhārī or Ibn Ḥibbān. Al-Nasāʾī also added: “The woman said, ‘If only I had said: One!’”

I say: This chain’s narrators are trustworthy and are among the narrators of al-Ṣaḥīḥ, apart from ʿImrān ibn Nāfiʿ. Ibn Ḥibbān declared him trustworthy, as did al-Nasāʾī, although no one besides this Bukayr narrated from him. In his biographical notice, al-Bukhārī cited this hadith of his, but mentioned neither criticism nor endorsement. The hadith is authentic, for it has many corroborating reports, including the hadith of Abū Hurayrah, who related from the Prophet that the Messenger of Allah,