ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Bukht, from Abū al-Zinād, from al-Aʿraj, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, identical in wording.

I say: The chain of the marfūʿ report is authentic; all of its transmitters are trustworthy. As for the chain of the mawqūf version, it contains this Abū Mūsā, who is an unknown narrator. Some have dropped him from the isnād: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ narrated it, saying, “Maʿwiyah related to me from Abū Maryam, from Abū Hurayrah,” stopping the report at Abū Hurayrah.

Al-Bukhārī recorded it in al-Adab al-Mufrad (1010). ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ is weak, and his narration cannot be used as proof—especially when it conflicts with others. Even so, Abū Yaʿlá also transmitted it (1/297) from him in this very form, and likewise from him—through Maʿwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ, from ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Bukht—in the marfūʿ version that matches Ibn Wahb’s narration; this latter route is the sounder one.

It has further been established that the Companions acted on the basis of this authentic ḥadīth. Al-Bukhārī reports in al-Adab (1011) through al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Nibrās Abū al-Ḥasan, from Thābit, from Anas ibn Mālik:

“When the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ were walking and a tree stood in their path, one group would pass to its right and another to its left; when they met again they would exchange salām.”

I say: al-Ḍaḥḥāk is weak in ḥadīth, yet al-Mundhirī (3/268) and al-Haythamī (8/34) attribute the report to al-Ṭabarānī in al-Awsat and both state: “Its isnād is ḥasan.”

I do not know whether that is via a different route or this very one; moreover, it appears with the wording:

“Whenever we were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and a tree separated us, when we met again some of us would …”