“Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it, and its narrators are those of the authentic collections, apart from Abū Jaʿfar al-Khaṭmī, who is trustworthy.”

I say: It has a third corroborating report from the hadith of ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, attributed to the Prophet, with similar wording. Al-Tirmidhī narrated it and graded it good. Its Successor narrator is unnamed, so perhaps he graded it good because of its corroborating reports; indeed, through them it is authentic. See al-Targhīb (3/109, 123, and 4/118) and al-Mishkāt (5366).

It has a fourth corroborating report from the hadith of Ibn Masʿūd. Al-Mundhirī, followed by al-Haythamī, rated its chain good. However, it contains a clear issue, which I have explained in al-Taʿlīq al-Raghīb (3/123); nevertheless, it is suitable as corroborating evidence. It has a fifth corroborating report from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī in mursal form. Abū Nuʿaym narrated it in al-Ḥilyah (1/340) through two routes from him.

Note: The hadith has previously appeared under no. 1884, through al-Bazzār’s narration from Abū Juḥayfah alone. There is an omission there, perhaps from the manuscript, which should be corrected from here.

2487 — “Indeed, among you is one who will fight over the interpretation of this Quran, just as I fought over its revelation.” We eagerly looked up, with Abū Bakr and ʿUmar among us, but he said: “No; rather, it is the one repairing the sandal”—meaning ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him.

Al-Nasāʾī narrated it in Khaṣāʾiṣ ʿAlī (p. 29), as did Ibn Ḥibbān (2207), al-Ḥākim (3/122–123), Aḥmad (3/33 and 82), Abū Yaʿlā (1/303–304), Abū Nuʿaym in al-Ḥilyah (1/67), and Ibn ʿAsākir (12/179/2–180/2), through several routes from Ismāʿīl ibn Rajāʾ al-Zubaydī, from his father, who said: I heard Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī say:

“We were sitting, waiting for the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, when he came out to us from one of his wives’ houses. We rose and went with him, but his sandal came apart, so ʿAlī remained behind to repair it. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, went on, and we went on with him. Then he stopped to wait for him, and we stopped with him. He then said”—and he mentioned the hadith.

“We went to give him the good news, but he appeared as though he had already heard it.”