“Where is the little rascal? Call the little rascal to me.” Al-Hasan came running and leapt into his lap. He then put his hand into his beard, and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, began opening his mouth and placing it to the boy’s mouth. Then he said the aforementioned words.

Al-Hakim said, “Its chain of transmission is authentic,” and al-Dhahabi agreed with him. I say: it is only good, owing to the slight criticism concerning Hisham ibn Saʿd.

Note: In al-Hakim’s version, “al-Husayn ibn Ali” appears in place of “al-Hasan.” This was perhaps an error on the part of his narrator, Abu ʿUbaydah ibn al-Fudayl ibn ʿIyad. Al-Dhahabi said of him, “There is some weakness in him.” Ibn al-Jawzi said, “He is weak.” Al-Hafiz countered: “Al-Daraqutni declared him trustworthy, so Ibn al-Jawzi’s unsupported weakening of him should not be heeded. Ibn Hibban listed him in al-Thiqat and narrated his hadith in his Sahih, as did al-Hakim.”

I say: I have not found him in the printed edition of al-Thiqat, nor in the index to his Sahih. Nor is this a typographical error, for al-Hakim cited it in the biographical entry for al-Husayn, may Allah be pleased with him. What further confirms the error is that al-Bukhari (5884) narrated the hadith in abridged form, as did Muslim (7/130), Ibn Hibban (6924), and Ahmad (2/331), through another route from Abu Hurayrah; and it mentions “al-Hasan.”

Among the errors of Brother Wasi Allah in his annotation to Fadaʾil is that he deemed its chain weak on account of Hisham ibn Saʿd. He then corrected himself, saying: “But the hadith is authentic, for al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated it!” It is evident, however, that this only corroborates part of it; thus, the entire hadith could not be strengthened by it, even if its chain were