the route of Ismaʿil ibn ʿAyyash, from al-ʿAbbas ibn ʿUtbah, from ʿAtaʾ ibn Abi Rabah, from Ibn ʿUmar, with the same wording. Al-ʿUqayli cited it in al-ʿAbbas’s biographical entry and said: “His hadith is not authentic.” He then said: “It has also been narrated through another chain of transmission, which is likewise weak.”

I say: He seems to be referring to the aforementioned chain of transmission of Maymun ibn Zayd. Al-Dhahabi quoted al-ʿUqayli’s statement, “His hadith is not authentic,” and endorsed it. In al-ʿAbbas’s biographical entry, al-Hafiz added: “Ibn Hibban mentioned him among the trustworthy narrators, but called him ʿAyyash, spelling it with a yāʾ and a shīn.”

I say: The wording of his hadith is: “Purify these bodies, and may Allah purify you. There is no servant who goes to bed in a state of purity except that an angel spends the night with him in his inner garment. Whenever he turns over at any point in the night, the angel says: ‘O Allah, forgive Your servant, for he went to bed in a state of purity.’”

Al-Mundhiri cited it with this wording in al-Targhib (1/207), as did al-Haythami in al-Majmaʿ (10/128) and al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar in al-Fath (11/93). However, all of them attributed it to Ibn ʿAbbas and said: “Al-Tabarani narrated it in al-Awsat with a strong chain of transmission.” Al-Haythami, however, said: “Its chain of transmission is good.” Yet elsewhere, when he cited it from Ibn ʿUmar with the wording of the hadith under discussion, he said (1/226):