“No one other than Ghanim ibn al-Ahwas narrated this hadith from Abu Salih.” I say: This Ghanim is not strong, as al-Daraqutni stated. Isma‘il ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Khalid ibn Sa‘id ibn Abi Maryam and his grandfather were included by Ibn Hibban in al-Thiqat (The Trustworthy Narrators), though others disagreed with him. As for his father, ‘Abd Allah ibn Khalid, al-Azdi said: “His hadith is not to be recorded.” Al-Dhahabi said: “He is unknown, in addition to being weak.” I say: Despite these defects, al-Mundhiri (1/175) said: “Al-Tabarani narrated it in al-Awsat, and there is no problem with its chain of transmission!” In sum, the hadith is established and authentic when all its routes are taken together. And with Allah lies success.

2533 — “The best of you are those who are most accommodating with their shoulders in prayer; and no step earns a greater reward than a step a man takes toward a gap in the row and fills it.”

Al-Tabarani narrated it in al-Awsat (1/32/2) through Layth ibn Hammad: Hammad ibn Zayd narrated to us, from Layth, from Mujahid, from ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umar, with this wording, attributed to the Prophet. He said: “No one narrated it from Hammad ibn Zayd except Layth.” I say: Al-Daraqutni deemed him weak, and al-Haythami (2/90) likewise identified him as its defect. The Layth above him is Ibn Abi Sulaym, who became confused in his later years. Through him, al-Daylami narrated the second part of the hadith in Musnad al-Firdaws