“We know of no one other than Humayd who narrated it from ‘Ata’, from Abu Hurayrah, and he is weak.”
I say: He is Humayd al-Makki, the client of Ibn ‘Alqamah, and not Ibn Qays al-A‘raj al-Makki, as stated in al-Tahdhib. He is unknown, as explicitly stated in al-Taqrib. It also has another corroborating report, narrated by Ibn Lahi‘ah: Hayy ibn ‘Abd Allah narrated to me that Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Hubuli related to him, from ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘As, who said: “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, dispatched a detachment, and they acquired booty and returned swiftly …”
Ahmad recorded the hadith (2/175). I say: Its chain of transmission is sound, for its narrators are trustworthy, notwithstanding the weakness of Ibn Lahi‘ah. However, Ibn Wahb corroborated him in al-Tabarani’s al-Kabir, as cited in al-Majma‘ (2/235). Therefore, al-Mundhiri said (1/235): “Ahmad narrated it through Ibn Lahi‘ah, while al-Tabarani narrated it with a sound chain of transmission.”
- “Indeed, Allah and His angels send blessings upon those who join the rows together; and whoever fills a gap, Allah raises him one degree thereby.”
Ibn Majah (995) and Ahmad (6/89) recorded it through the route of Isma‘il ibn ‘Ayyash, from Hisham ibn ‘Urwah, from his father, from ‘A’ishah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said it.
I say: The narrators in this chain of transmission are trustworthy, except that Ibn ‘Ayyash was deemed weak in his narrations from the Madinans, and this is one of them. Yet he was corroborated: Ahmad (6/67 and 160), Ibn Khuzaymah (1550), Ibn Hibban (1511), ‘Abd ibn Humayd (394), and al-Hakim (1/214) recorded it through the route of Usamah ibn Zayd