and both of them have been deemed trustworthy, though each has some weakness; the rest of its narrators are narrators of the Sahih collections.”

I say: Ibn Khuzaymah’s chain of transmission is free of these two criticized narrators. ʿAbd Allah ibn Salih narrated extensively from al-Layth—namely, Ibn Saʿd—and was in fact his scribe. Were it not for a certain inattentiveness in him, his transmissions from al-Layth would have been among the strongest. In any case, he corroborates the two trustworthy narrators in Ibn Khuzaymah’s version, thus lending strength to the hadith. And Allah knows best.

Then I found that Ibn Khuzaymah also narrated it through another chain from al-Layth. He said (pp. 158–159): “Yunus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿla narrated to us; he said: Yahya—that is, Ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Bukayr—narrated to us; he said: Al-Layth narrated to me ...” with the same wording.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission that meets Muslim’s criteria.

Note: His statement, peace and blessings be upon him, “They sought Adam’s help,” means that they asked him to supplicate to Allah and intercede for them with Him. Hadiths conveying this meaning are numerous and well known in the two Sahih collections and elsewhere.

This does not permit seeking help from the dead, as many spiritually dead innovators imagine. Rather, it falls under seeking the help of a living person in a matter within his capability, as in Allah’s saying: “The one from his party called upon him for help against the one from his enemy ...”—the verse (1).

It is plainly evident that, for example, a living person who is capable cannot say to someone who is bound and helpless, “Help me!” The dead person from whom help is sought besides Allah is even more helpless than he is. Whoever disagrees is either a foolish imbecile or a forsaken associationist, because he believes that his deceased person hears and sees and is capable of all things. Herein lies the danger: major associationism—which the people of monotheism fear for these