/281), and Muslim added in one version: “Shuʿbah said: I do not think that this phrase is anything but Ibn ʿUmar’s own statement”—meaning, seeking permission.

I say: This is anomalous; none of the other narrators from Shuʿbah mentioned it. If it is established from him, then it is merely his own opinion and carries no weight—especially since the phrase is established in Sufyān’s narration—namely, al-Thawrī’s—and in that of others, as part of the hadith itself, as mentioned above and as will follow.

Ibn Abī Ghaniyyah also corroborated him. Imam Aḥmad (2/131) said: Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī Ghaniyyah narrated to us: My father narrated to us from Jablah ibn Suḥaym, tracing it back to the Prophet, with the wording: “If one of you eats with his companion, let him not eat two at a time until he seeks his permission”—that is, regarding dates.

I say: Its chain of transmission is authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs.

The hadith also has a brief supporting narration, reported by Abū ʿĀmir al-Khazzāz, from al-Ḥasan, from Saʿd, the freedman of Abū Bakr, who said: “I presented dates before the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and they began eating them two at a time. So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘Do not eat two at a time.’” Ibn Mājah, al-Ḥākim (4/120), and Aḥmad (1/199) narrated it. Al-Ḥākim said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic!” Al-Dhahabī agreed with him.

Al-Ḥākim also narrated it, as did Ibn Ḥibbān (1350), from Jarīr, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, from al-Shaʿbī, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: “I was among the people of al-Ṣuffah when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent us some ajwah dates. They were poured out among us, and out of hunger we began eating two at a time. Whenever one of our companions ate two together, he would say to his companion: ‘I have eaten two together, so eat two together.’” Al-Ḥākim said, and al-Dhahabī agreed: