their eyes, and their chins fell upon their breasts. They were rooted to their seats: not one of them raised his eyes toward him, nor did any man rise against him. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then came forward until he stood over them. He took a handful of dust and said, “May the faces be disfigured!” Then he pelted them with it. Not one of them whom a pebble from that dust struck was spared being killed as an unbeliever on the day of Badr.”

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy and are narrators of the Sahih collections, except for Yahya ibn Sulaym al-Taʾifi, concerning whose retention there has been some criticism. However, a number of others corroborated him, thereby removing concern over his poor retention; thus the hadith is authentic, praise be to Allah.

First: Saʿid ibn Mansur narrated in his Sunan (3/2/354): Ismaʿil ibn ʿAyyash, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUthman ibn Khuthaym.

Second: Maʿmar corroborated him, from Ibn Khuthaym, through the same chain. Ahmad narrated it (1/368): ʿAbd al-Razzaq narrated to us: Maʿmar narrated to us ... I say: This is a good chain according to Muslim’s conditions.

Third: Abu Bakr ibn ʿAyyash, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUthman ibn Khuthaym, through the same chain. Al-Hakim narrated it in abridged form (3/157), as did al-Bayhaqi in al-Dalaʾil (2/277–278). Al-Hakim said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” Al-Dhahabi agreed with him. Al-Haythami said concerning the hadith (8/228): “Ahmad narrated it through two chains, and the narrators of one of them are narrators of the Sahih collections.”