2539 — “Whoever goes to bed in a state of ritual purity, an angel remains close beside him throughout the night. Whenever he wakes at any hour of the night, the angel says: ‘O Allah, forgive Your servant so-and-so, for he went to bed in a state of ritual purity.’”

ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Mubarak recorded it in his Hadiths (2/101/2) and in al-Zuhd (fol. 216/1; no. 1244 in the printed edition); Ibn ʿAdi (fol. 89/1); Ibn Hibban (167—Mawarid); and Ibn Shahin in al-Targhib (fol. 313/2), all through Ibn al-Mubarak, who said: Al-Hasan ibn Dhakwan informed us, from Sulayman al-Ahwal, from ʿAtaʾ, from Abu Hurayrah, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said—and then cited it.

However, al-Mawarid has “Ibn ʿUmar” in place of Abu Hurayrah, which was perhaps a slip of the copyist’s pen. Yet it has indeed been narrated from Ibn ʿUmar through another route, as will follow. I say: This is a good chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy and are among al-Bukhari’s narrators, although Ibn Dhakwan has some weakness. Nevertheless, his hadith does not fall below the rank of good. Ibn ʿAdi said of him: “I hope that there is no harm in him.” Al-Dhahabi said: “He is acceptable in hadith.” Al-Hafiz said: “Truthful, prone to error, and practised tadlis (obscuring links in a chain).”

Maymun ibn Zayd differed from Ibn al-Mubarak, saying: Al-Hasan ibn Dhakwan narrated to us, from Sulayman al-Ahwal, from ʿAtaʾ, from Ibn ʿUmar, with it. Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Kabir (3/209/1), as did al-Bazzar (1/149/288—its supplementary material), who said: “We know of no narration from Ibn ʿUmar except through this route, and a number of trustworthy narrators transmitted from al-Hasan.” I say: However, Abu Hatim considered Maymun ibn Zayd somewhat weak, while Ibn Hibban listed him among the trustworthy narrators. Al-Tabarani, Ibn Shahin, and al-ʿUqayli then recorded it in al-Duʿafaʾ (p. 33) through