and Ibn Saʿd (3/155), through Hammad ibn Salamah, from ʿAsim ibn Bahdalah, from Zirr ibn Hubaysh, from ʿAbd Allah, who said:

“I used to gather tooth-cleaning twigs from the arāk tree for the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The people laughed at the thinness of my calves, whereupon the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said the words mentioned above.” The wording is Ibn Saʿd’s, while the additional material is from the other two.

I say: This chain is good, and the report is authentic through its numerous routes recorded by al-Tabarani (8453, 8454, and 8517) and Ibn Saʿd, as well as through the corroborating reports that follow. The first is from Muʿawiyah ibn Qurrah, from his father, who said: Ibn Masʿud was up in a tree gathering something from it for them, when a wind blew and exposed his calves, so they laughed… the hadith.

It was recorded by Ibn Jarir al-Tabari in al-Tahdhib (Musnad ʿAli, 163/262, Shakir), al-Tabarani in al-Kabir (19/28/59), and al-Hakim (3/317), through Sahl ibn Hammad Abu ʿAttab al-Dallal, who said: Shuʿbah related to us; Muʿawiyah ibn Qurrah related to us with it. Al-Hakim said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” Al-Dhahabi concurred with him.

I say: Rather, it meets Muslim’s criteria, for all its narrators are trustworthy narrators of both al-Bukhari and Muslim, apart from al-Dallal, who is among Muslim’s exclusive narrators. However, he was contradicted, as will be mentioned; and Qurrah, Muʿawiyah’s father, was a well-known Companion, so Muslim’s not having recorded a report from him does not affect this.

Al-Tayalisi also recorded it in his Musnad (1078), saying: Shuʿbah related to us, from Muʿawiyah ibn Qurrah, that Ibn Masʿud… the hadith—transmitting it without naming Qurrah’s father. Yunus ibn Habib—the narrator of the Musnad—said: “This is how Abu Dawud narrated it; others besides Abu Dawud narrated from Shuʿbah, from Muʿawiyah ibn Qurrah, from his father.”