He shows even greater leniency in al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr: there he cited the ḥadīth with the wording just mentioned and ascribed it only to Aḥmad and al-Ḥākim! This is an obvious mistake. It seems its cause is that when he found the ḥadīth in al-Jāmiʿ al-Kabīr with that wording and attributed to the group already named, he forgot that he had been lax in assigning the wording to all of them, for in reality it belongs to only one of them, al-Ṭabarānī. Then, when he produced the abridged documentation in al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr, he limited the citation to Aḥmad and al-Ḥākim, and the error resulted. Infallibility belongs to Allah alone.

The ḥadīth also has a corroborating report from ʿAlī which gives the details of the commander who ordered his troops to enter the fire. It states:

“There is no obedience to a human being when it involves disobedience to Allah; obedience is only in what is right.”

181 – “There is no obedience to a human being when it involves disobedience to Allah; obedience is only in what is right.”

It was recorded by al-Bukhārī (13/203 – Fath), Muslim (6/15), Abū Dāwūd (2625), al-Nasāʾī (2/187), al-Ṭayālisī (109), and Aḥmad (1/94) on the authority of ʿAlī:

“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ dispatched an army and appointed a man over them. He lit a fire and said, ‘Enter it.’ Some of the people wanted to enter, while others said, ‘We have only fled from it (i.e., from the Hell-fire).’ When this was mentioned to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he said to those who had wanted to enter, ‘Had you entered it, you would have remained in it until the Day of Resurrection,’ and he spoke well to the others,” and then he cited the quoted words. The additional phrasing is from al-Ṭayālisī, while the main wording is Muslim’s.

In another narration from ʿAlī:

“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent out a detachment and placed over them a man from the Anṣār, instructing them to listen to him and obey him. They angered him over something, so he said, ‘Gather firewood for me.’ They gathered it. Then he said, ‘Light a fire.’ They lit it. Then he said, ‘Did not the Messenger of Allah ﷺ command you to listen to me and obey me?’ They replied, ‘Indeed he did.’ He said, ‘Then enter the fire!’ They looked at one another and said…”