on the basis of clear evidence. On this occasion, I am reminded of an excellent statement I came across in al-Dhahabī’s Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ (9/188): “Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd—meaning the imām al-Qaṭṭān—said: ‘Do not look at the hadith; rather, look at the chain of transmission. If the chain is authentic, then accept it; otherwise, do not be deceived by a hadith whose chain of transmission is not authentic.’” Allah, exalted is He, is the One who grants success.

2510 — “Today, you are in an age in which its scholars are many and its preachers few. Whoever neglects one tenth of what he knows has gone astray. There will come after it an age in which its preachers are many and its scholars few. Whoever holds fast to one tenth of what he knows has been saved.”

Al-Harawī transmitted it in Dhamm al-Kalām (1/14–15) through two routes from Muḥammad ibn Ṭafar ibn Manṣūr: Muḥammad ibn Muʿādh narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn Khushram narrated to us; ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus narrated to us, from al-Ḥajjāj ibn Abī Ziyād, from Abū al-Ṣiddīq or Abū Naḍrah—al-Ḥajjāj was uncertain—from Abū Dharr, attributed to the Prophet, with this wording.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission. All its narrators are trustworthy and are narrators of Muslim, apart from this Muḥammad ibn Ṭafar, for I have not yet found a biographical entry for him. It was he who prevented me from declaring the hadith authentic when I included the similar hadith of Abū Hurayrah in al-Ḍaʿīfah (684). Then I discovered that he was not alone in narrating it, and, in the interest of scholarly integrity, I saw no alternative but to declare it authentic. For al-Bukhārī said in his biographical entry for al-Ḥajjāj ibn Abī Ziyād al-Aswad (1/2/374): “Ibrāhīm ibn Mūsā said: ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus informed us ...”

I say: He then related its chain in the same manner and the opening part of its text, then said: “And Isḥāq said: Muʾammal narrated to us; he heard...”