He said: “I then related this hadith to some people, among whom was Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUbayd Allah. He said, ‘I was with you at that gathering. Do you know who the man was?’ I replied, ‘No.’ He said, ‘It was ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr.’” Al-Ḥākim also recorded it, as did Ibn ʿAsākir in The History of Damascus (13/593, al-Madīnah edition). Al-Ḥākim said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” Al-Dhahabī concurred.

Third: Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ said: “ʿAmr ibn Qays al-Kindī informed me that he heard ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ,” and he cited it as a report attributed to the Companion, with the wording: “...every book other than the Book of Allah.” Ibn Abī Shaybah recorded it in al-Muṣannaf (15/165/19395): Zayd ibn al-Ḥubāb said: “Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ informed us...”

Fourth: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated it from ʿAmr ibn Qays by this chain, up to the words: “and deeds are held back.” Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī recorded it in al-Fitan (folio 53/1–2), and al-Bayhaqī in Shuʿab al-Īmān (4/306/5199), in full.

Fifth: Bishr narrated: “ʿAmr ibn Qays told me the same.” Ibn ʿAsākir recorded it.

A benefit: This hadith is among the signs of his prophethood, peace and blessings be upon him, for all the reports it contains have come to pass—particularly that concerning the Mathnah, which, as the narrator explained, is everything written besides the Book of Allah, as well as the Prophetic hadiths and reports from the early generations related to it. Thus, it is as though what is meant by the Mathnah is the books of the legal schools imposed upon their unquestioning adherents, which, over the passage of time, have diverted them