I embraced Islam and came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, informing him of my acceptance of Islam. I remained for a year, during which I became emaciated and my body wasted away. Then I came to him, and he lowered his gaze before raising it again. I said, “Do you not recognize me?” He asked, “Who are you?” I replied, “I am Kuhmas al-Hilali.” He said, “What has brought you to the condition I see?” I said, “Since leaving you, I have not broken my fast by day, nor slept at night.” He then said: … and mentioned the hadith.

Al-Hafiz cited it in al-Matalib al-Aliyah (1/303/1036) through the narration of al-Tayalisi, without commenting on it. Al-Haythami said in al-Majmaʿ (3/197): “Al-Tabarani narrated it in al-Kabir, and its chain contains Hammad ibn Yazid al-Minqari”—I say: in al-Jarh, he is called al-Muqriʾ—“and I have not found anyone who mentioned him.”

I say: He overlooked the fact that al-Bukhari mentioned him in al-Tarikh (2/1/20), gave his kunyah as Abu Yazid al-Basri, and said: “He heard from Muʿawiyah ibn Qurrah; Musa heard from him; and he heard from his father and Muhammad ibn Sirin.” Ibn Abi Hatim likewise mentioned him (1/2/151), adding Bakr ibn Abd Allah al-Muzani and Makhlad ibn Uqbah ibn Shurahbil al-Juʿfi to his teachers. Among those who narrated from him, he listed Yunus ibn Muhammad, Muslim ibn Ibrahim, Muhammad ibn Awn al-Ziyadi, and Talut ibn Abbad al-Jahdari.

Abu Dawud al-Tayalisi should also be added to them, for he narrated this hadith from him. Ibn Hibban likewise mentioned him in al-Thiqat (2/62, the Zahiriyyah manuscript), and written in the margin in the hand of one of the hadith scholars is: “Al-Bazzar mentioned him and said: ‘There is no harm in him.’”

The hadith also has a corroborating report narrated by Mujibah al-Bahiliyyah from her father or her uncle, containing this account. At its end is an additional wording, for the sake of which I cited it in Weak Hadiths of Abu Dawud, no. 419.