The other addition in al-Bayhaqī’s version makes it impossible to determine whether the account is transmitted through the first chain of transmission or the other. After citing the account through al-Bayhaqī’s route, al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr said in al-Tārīkh (7/241): “In my view, if the hadith we have cited is authentically reported from him, then what else could have caused him to turn back? It is unlikely that he would expiate his oath and then subsequently appear to fight ʿAlī. And Allah knows best.”

I say: This is supported by the narration of Sharīk from al-Aswad ibn Qays, who said: “One who saw al-Zubayr striking down horses with his spear told me that ʿAlī called out to him: ‘O ʿAbd Allāh! O ʿAbd Allāh!’ He said: He came forward until the necks of their mounts met. Then ʿAlī said to him: ‘I adjure you by Allah: do you remember the day when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came to us while I was speaking privately with you, and said, “By Allah, you will fight him while you are wronging him”?’ Al-Zubayr then struck the face of his mount and withdrew.” Ibn Abī Shaybah recorded it (19674).

In sum, the hadith under discussion is authentic in my view, on account of its chains, as stated above—though not the story of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr with his father. And Allah knows best.

2660 — “This boy will live a century.” He lived one hundred years—meaning ʿAbd Allāh ibn Busr.

Al-Bukhārī recorded it in al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr (1/1/323) and al-Tārīkh al-Ṣaghīr (p. 93); as did al-Ḥākim (4/500), al-Bayhaqī in Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah (6/503), al-Ṭabarānī in Musnad al-Shāmiyyīn (836), and Ibn ʿAsākir in Tārīkh Dimashq (9/4/2), through the route of al-Bukhārī and others, from Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Ziyād al-Alhānī, from his father, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Busr, that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to him: … and he cited it. I say: This chain of transmission is acceptable for corroborative reports; all its narrators are known and reliable, except