and al-Wahidi in al-Wasit (1/181/1), and Ibn ʿAsakir in al-Tarikh (12/260/2), all of them from Hudbah, through him. I say: This is a weak chain of transmission. All its narrators are trustworthy except this Suhayl, who is weak, as stated in al-Taqrib. The majority of scholars, including al-Bukhari, declared him weak. Ibn Hibban said: “He alone narrates from trustworthy narrators reports that do not resemble the hadiths of reliable, precise transmitters.”

Al-Haythami said (10/211) concerning the hadith: “It was narrated by Abu Yaʿla and al-Tabarani in al-Awsat. Its chain includes Suhayl ibn Abi Hazm, who has been deemed trustworthy despite his weakness; the rest of its narrators are narrators of the Sahih collections.” I say: No one declared him trustworthy apart from al-ʿIjli, who is lenient in declaring narrators trustworthy. In one report, Ibn Maʿin said: “He is acceptable.” The majority declared him weak, as stated above, including Ibn Maʿin in his other report concerning him.

I say: Despite the weakness of its chain, the text of the hadith is established in my view. Its first half is supported by many verses in the Noble Quran, such as Allah Most High’s saying: “Allah does not fail His promise” (1), and His saying: “And We shall overlook their misdeeds, among the people of Paradise—the true promise that they were promised” (2).

The other half is supported by the hadith of ʿUbadah ibn al-Samit, attributed to the Prophet, with the wording: “... and whoever worships Allah ... and hears but disobeys, Allah Most High has discretion concerning him: if He wills, He will have mercy upon him, and if He wills, He will punish him.” Ahmad and others narrated it with a good chain, as I have established in my verification of al-Sunnah (968). It also has other chains in the two Sahihs and elsewhere with similar wording. Refer to the aforementioned documentation (961–967).