“I set out with ʿAmr ibn Ṣulayʿ until we came to Hudhayfah. He said: ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say...’” He then cited it. Al-Hakim said: “This hadith is authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs.” Al-Dhahabi agreed with him.

It has two other chains—indeed, three. The first is from ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Tharwan (1), from ʿAmr ibn Hanzalah, who said: Hudhayfah said, “By Allah, Mudar will not leave any believing servant of Allah without subjecting him to tribulation or killing him, until Allah strikes them through the angels and the believers, so that they cannot protect even the tail end of a valley.” A man said to him, “Do you say this, O ʿAbd Allah, when you are yourself a man of Mudar?” He replied, “I say only what the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said.”

It was recorded by Ahmad (5/395) and Ibn Abi Shaybah in al-Musannaf (15/111/19249), and through him by al-Tabarani in al-Awsat (2/110/2/6727), through ʿAbd Allah ibn Numayr, who said: Al-Aʿmash narrated to us from ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Tharwan, with this chain. Al-Tabarani said: “No one narrated it from al-Aʿmash except ʿAbd Allah ibn Numayr.”

I say: He is trustworthy and among the narrators of the two Shaykhs, as are those above him, except for ʿAmr ibn Hanzalah. Al-Hafiz said in al-Taʿjil: “Ibn Hibban deemed him trustworthy, and Ibn Abi Hatim mentioned him without citing any disparagement of him.”

I say: I did not find him among the Successors in Thiqāt Ibn Hibban—the Indian edition verified by al-Afghani—so I said: Perhaps he included him among the Successors of the Successors, since he did not explicitly state that he heard from Hudhayfah. I then consulted the photographic copy in my possession, but did not find him among them either (2).