ibn Niyar al-Ansari, who heard from Sahl ibn Abi Hathmah. Khubayb ibn Abd al-Rahman narrated from him, and no one besides Ibn Hibban declared him trustworthy. Thus, he too is unknown. I likewise could not identify the two narrators coupled with him, Sulaym ibn Rabah and Zakariyya ibn Ishaq. The latter may be Zakariyya ibn Ishaq al-Makki, who narrated from Amr ibn Dinar and his contemporaries and was trustworthy; however, he did not hear from the Companions, so the chain is interrupted.

Regarding Husayn ibn al-Rammas, Ibn Abi Hatim said (1/2/52): “He narrated from Abd al-Rahman ibn Masud, and Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Marwazi narrated from him.” (1) He mentioned nothing further about him, so he is unknown. This is why al-Dhahabi said in al-Talkhis: “I say: Its chain has some weakness.”

However, al-Hakim has another route for it: from Sulayman ibn Qarm, from al-A‘mash, from Shaqiq, who said: “A companion of mine and I entered upon Salman, may Allah be pleased with him. He set before us bread and salt and said, ‘Were it not that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, forbade us from going to unnecessary trouble, I would have made greater preparations for you.’ My companion said, ‘If only there were some thyme in our salt!’ So he sent his water vessel to the grocer and pawned it, then brought back some thyme and put it in the salt. When we had eaten, my companion said, ‘Praise be to Allah, who has made us content with what He has provided us!’ Salman replied, ‘Had you been content with what you were provided, my water vessel would not be pawned with the grocer!’”

Al-Hakim said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic,” and al-Dhahabi agreed with him. I say: This is questionable, for although Sulayman ibn Qarm is designated as one of the narrators of the two Sahihs, a number of scholars deemed him weak. Al-Hafiz said in al-Taqrib: “He had poor retention.”