2496 — “Whenever the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, sent him out on an expedition, he would give him the banner; and he would not return until Allah granted him victory. Gabriel was at his right, and Michael at his left.” That is, Ali, may Allah be pleased with him.

Ibn Hibban (2211), Ahmad (1/199), al-Bazzar (2574, in al-Kashf), al-Tabarani in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir (1/131/1), al-Nasa'i in al-Khasa'is, no. 25, with similar wording in al-Balushi’s edition, and Ibn Asakir (12/215/1–2) recorded it through several routes from Abu Ishaq, from Hubayrah ibn Yarim, who said: I heard al-Hasan ibn Ali rise and address the people, saying: “O people, yesterday there departed from you a man whom none of the earlier generations surpassed, nor will any of the later generations attain. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, would send him out...” — the hadith. “He left behind neither silver nor gold, except seven hundred dirhams remaining from his stipend, with which he intended to purchase a servant.”

I say: Its narrators are trustworthy narrators of the two Sahihs, apart from this Hubayrah, concerning whom there is disagreement. Al-Hafiz said: “There is no objection to him, though he was criticized for Shi'i leanings.”

I say: Abu Ishaq—al-Sabi'i—practised tadlis, and his memory became impaired. There is also disagreement concerning its chain of transmission: a group narrated it from him in this manner. His grandson Isra'il differed from them, saying: from Abu Ishaq, from Amr ibn Habashi, who said: Al-Hasan ibn Ali addressed us ... the hadith. Ahmad and Ibn Asakir recorded it.

I say: This discrepancy may well have come from al-Sabi'i himself, owing to his impaired memory; yet another narrator corroborated him. Sakin ibn Abd al-Aziz said: Hafs ibn Khalid told me; my father, Khalid ibn Jabir, told me, saying: