“They only included his reports as corroborating evidence.” This is mentioned in al-Tahdhib, without any comment upon it. In any event, his hadith is good. Al-Hafiz said in al-Taqrib: “Truthful.” Al-Dhahabi included him in Narrators Criticized in a Manner That Does Not Warrant Rejecting Their Hadith. All the remaining narrators are reliable transmitters found in Muslim, apart from this Mahmud, who has a good biographical entry in Tarikh Baghdad (13/94). He died in 297 AH. Al-Mundhiri said in al-Targhib (2/158), and al-Haythami followed him in Majma al-Zawa'id (5/283): “Al-Tabarani narrated it in al-Awsat, and its narrators are narrators of the Sahih.”

It also has a corroborating report from the hadith of Khalid ibn Zayd al-Juhani, attributed to the Prophet, with the same wording. Ibn Hibban (1619) and Ahmad (4/114–115 and 116) narrated it with an authentic chain, while Ibn Majah (2/172–173) narrated it in abbreviated form, namely: “or spends …”

2691 — “Eat together, and do not eat separately, for the food of one suffices two, and the food of two suffices four.”

Al-Tabarani narrated it in al-Awsat (no. 7597/2—based on my photographic copy and numbering): Muhammad ibn Aban narrated to us; Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Khallad al-Wasiti narrated to us; Yazid ibn—