Ahmad reported (6/85): Abu al-Yaman narrated to us: Ismaʿil ibn ʿAyyash narrated to us, from al-Awzaʿi, from ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn al-Qasim, from his father, from ʿAʾishah, that a slave of hers under a contract of manumission came to her with the remainder due under his contract. She said to him, “You are not to enter upon me after this occasion. So devote yourself to jihad in the path of Allah, for I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say”—and she then cited it.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission. All its narrators are trustworthy and are narrators of the two Sahihs, apart from Ismaʿil ibn ʿAyyash; he is trustworthy in his narrations from Syrians, and this is one of them. Al-Mundhiri (2/168), followed by al-Haythami (5/276), said: “Ahmad reported it, and its narrators are trustworthy.”

I say: Ibn Abi ʿAsim also reported it (folio 84/2) through Suwayd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz: al-Awzaʿi narrated to us with the same chain. I say: I have found another route for it, by which it may be corroborated and strengthened. Al-Tabarani said in al-Awsat (2/124–125, photocopy of the Islamic University): Hushaym ibn Khalaf narrated to us; Muhammad ibn ʿAmmar al-Mawsili narrated to us; al-Qasim ibn Yazid al-Jarmi narrated to us, from Sadaqah ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Dimashqi, from Ibn Jurayj, from Muhammad ibn Ziyad al-Madani, from Furat, the freedman of ʿAʾishah, who said: ʿAʾishah said—and then cited it, attributing it to the Prophet, in similar wording.

I say: This chain of transmission is weak. Sadaqah ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Dimashqi is weak, as al-Hafiz stated. I do not know Furat, the freedman of ʿAʾishah; perhaps his name has suffered textual corruption. It has a third route: Ibn Abi ʿAsim said: ʿUmar ibn Yahya al-Ayli narrated to us; Hafs ibn Jamiʿ narrated to us, from al-Mughirah, from al-Hakam, from ʿAtaʾ, from her—that is, ʿAʾishah—who attributed the hadith to the Prophet in similar wording.