Note: Some scholars have fallen into certain errors concerning the text of this hadith. It is therefore necessary to point them out, so that readers may be on their guard against them.

First: In al-Targhib (2/129), after attributing it to Muslim, al-Nasaʾi, and Ibn Majah, al-Mundhiri said: “Razin added in his Jamiʿ: ‘Bear witness, My angels, that I have forgiven them.’” I say: This addition has no basis in any of the narrations of this hadith that I have examined; I have just mentioned those who transmitted it. This addition has only been narrated in the hadith of Jabir, but Abu al-Zubayr narrates it with an ambiguous “from” formula, and its wording is also reported differently from him. I therefore included it in my other book, no. 679. It is a strong corroborating report for the hadith under discussion, apart from the words, “He says: ‘What do these people seek?’” It contains, “Allah descends to the lowest heaven,” in place of, “He draws near.”

We have known Razin often to conflate two hadiths that differ in their sources: he cites one of them and then appends to it an addition from another hadith without indicating this. Indeed, the addition may have no basis in any of the chains of transmission of the hadith. And Allah knows best.

Second: Al-Suyuti likewise included the hadith under discussion in al-Jamiʿ al-Kabir, on the authority of Muslim, al-Nasaʾi, and Ibn Majah, with the wording: “a male servant or a female slave.” This addition, “or a female slave,” likewise has no basis in their narrations, nor in those of anyone else who recorded the hadith. Its error escaped the notice of the author of al-Fath al-Kabir fi Damm al-Ziyadah ila al-Jamiʿ al-Saghir, as it also escaped mine when I divided al-Fath into two sections: Sahih al-Jamiʿ al-Saghir wa Ziyadatuhu and Daʿif al-Jamiʿ al-Saghir wa Ziyadatuhu. I included this hadith in the first section as no. 5672. Whoever has it should annotate it in a way that indicates that this addition has no basis.