I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission; all its narrators are reliable and appear among al-Bukhari’s narrators. Hafs ibn Abdullah is al-Sulami al-Naysaburi.

Al-Bukhari and Muslim, as well as others, also transmitted it through various chains from Nafi‘, with the same wording but without the phrase, “even if he is admitted into Paradise.” Yet this is a valuable addition, supported by corroborating reports which I have cited in al-Rawd al-Nadir (561). Al-Mundhiri also cited it with this addition in al-Targhib (3/182), without commenting on it.

2635 — “Satan has despaired of being worshipped in this land of yours, but he is content with what you deem insignificant.”

Ahmad recorded it (2/368): Mu‘awiyah narrated to us; Abu Ishaq narrated to us, from al-A‘mash, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who said: ... Then he mentioned it.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission. All its narrators are reliable and appear in the two Sahihs. Abu Ishaq is Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn al-Harith al-Fazari. Mu‘awiyah appears to be Mu‘awiyah ibn ‘Amr, for Imam Ahmad cited another hadith from him immediately before this one. He was al-Azdi, Abu ‘Amr al-Baghdadi, one of al-Bukhari’s shaykhs. Curiously, neither his biography nor that of Imam Ahmad mentions that the Imam narrated from him, although he belonged to the same generation as Ahmad’s shaykhs, such as Waki‘ ibn al-Jarrah, and Mu‘awiyah was one year older than him. Even al-Hafiz al-Mizzi did not mention him, despite his usual practice of thoroughly listing the shaykhs of the person being profiled and those who narrated from him.

When I found that he had not mentioned him, it occurred to me that a copy of al-Musnad might have omitted part of the name of Ahmad’s shaykh, and that he was actually Marwan ibn Mu‘awiyah, since he heard from Abu Ishaq al-Fazari and Imam Ahmad heard from him. Yet this possibility was quickly dispelled when I saw that Imam Ahmad had narrated the other hadith from Mu‘awiyah ibn ‘Amr. So praise be to Allah for His guidance.

This was further confirmed by Ibn al-Jawzi’s listing him among Ahmad’s shaykhs in his Virtues of Ahmad (p. 50), and by al-Hafiz al-Mizzi’s listing Abu Ishaq al-Fazari among Mu‘awiyah’s shaykhs in his Tahdhib (2/169). Abu Hamzah also corroborated him from al-A‘mash with the same report, except that he added: “and Abu Sa‘id ...” Al-Bayhaqi recorded it in The Branches of Faith (2/383/2–384/1). Its chain is likewise authentic. Abu Hamzah is Muhammad ibn Maymun al-Sukkari al-Marwazi.

2636 — “It is not befitting a believer to be one who curses.”

Al-Bukhari recorded it in al-Adab al-Mufrad (309), as did al-Tirmidhi (2020), al-Hakim (1/47), and al-Bayhaqi on his authority in The Branches of Faith (2/91/2), and Ibn Abi al-Dunya in