and Abu al-Qasim al-Hamadhani in al-Fawa’id (fol. 197/1), and al-Bayhaqi in al-Shu‘ab (3/61/2872).

I say: This is a chain of transmission whose narrators are trustworthy, but al-Tirmidhi considered it defective because it was attributed only to a Companion. He said: “This hadith has also been narrated as a report attributed only to a Companion, and I know of no one who attributed it to the Prophet except Salm ibn Qutaybah’s narration from Tu‘mah ibn ‘Amr, from Habib ibn Abi Thabit, from Anas. Rather, this hadith is narrated from Habib ibn Abi Habib al-Bajali, from Anas ibn Malik, as his own statement.”

I say: Al-Tirmidhi and Ibn ‘Adi then narrated it with a connected chain, through Waki‘, from Khalid ibn Tahman, from Habib ibn Abi Habib—al-Tirmidhi added: al-Bajali—from Anas, with similar wording, as a report attributed to Anas, without raising it to the Prophet. I say: This is not a discrediting defect, for such a matter cannot be stated merely on the basis of personal opinion; it therefore has the ruling of a report attributed to the Prophet. This is especially so since ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Afra’ al-Dawsi attributed it to the Prophet: Khalid ibn Tahman narrated to us from Anas, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said—and he mentioned it with similar wording—thus, without mentioning Habib. Ibn ‘Adi narrated it.

This al-Dawsi was truthful, as was his shaykh Khalid ibn Tahman, except that the latter suffered memory confusion. I do not know whether the mention of Habib was omitted from the chain or by the copyist. The latter is perhaps more likely, for Ibn ‘Adi said: “Habib ibn Abi Habib is mentioned in connection with this hadith. Tu‘mah ibn ‘Amr and Khalid ibn Tahman narrated this hadith from him. Tu‘mah attributed it to the Prophet from him, while Khalid narrated it from him both as attributed to the Prophet and as attributed only to a Companion. I do not know whether this Habib ibn Abi Habib is the dealer in patterned mats, or another Habib!”