Al-Bukhari (6/286, 8/139, and 13/269), al-Tirmidhi (2965), and Ahmad (3/32) also recorded it. Al-Tirmidhi said: “It is a good, authentic hadith.”
2449 — “Even the least among them may grant protection on behalf of my community.”
Ahmad (2/365) and al-Hakim (2/141) recorded it through Kathir ibn Zayd, from al-Walid ibn Rabah, from Abu Hurayrah, who reported that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said this.
I say: Its chain of transmission is good. The hadith is authentic, for it has supporting reports with the wording concerning the granting of protection:
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From Anas, attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Al-Tahawi recorded it in Mushkil al-Athar (2/92), and al-Hakim (4/45), through the route of Abdullah ibn Shabib: Ayyub ibn Sulayman ibn Bilal narrated to us; Abu Bakr ibn Abi Uways narrated to me; Sulayman ibn Bilal narrated to me, from Yahya ibn Saʿid and Salih ibn Kaysan, from Ibn Shihab, from Anas. I say: This is a weak chain of transmission, for this Abdullah ibn Shabib is very weak.
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From Umm Salamah, attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Al-Hakim recorded it, and its chain is good as corroborative evidence.
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From Amr ibn al-As, likewise. Ahmad (4/197) and Abu Yaʿla (4/1769) recorded it from an unnamed man, from him. Its narrators are trustworthy and are among the narrators of the two Shaykhs, apart from the unnamed man; it was on account of him that al-Haythami deemed it defective (5/329).