Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Awsat (2/53/1–2/5894, according to my numbering): Muhammad ibn Abd Allah al-Hadrami narrated to us: Yahya ibn Abd al-Hamid al-Himmani informed us: Sharik ibn Abd Allah ibn Isa informed us, from Yahya ibn Abi Kathir, from Abu Salamah, from Abu Hurayrah, attributed to the Prophet with this wording. He said: “No one narrated it from Abd Allah ibn Isa except Sharik, and no one narrated it from Sharik except Yazid ibn Harun and Yahya al-Himmani.”

I say: Al-Haythami declared it defective on account of al-Himmani, stating in al-Majmaʿ (7/160): “Al-Tabarani narrated it in al-Awsat, and it contains Yahya ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Himmani, who is weak.”

I say: This is open to criticism on two grounds. First, he says, “ibn Abd al-Aziz,” whereas he is ibn Abd al-Hamid, as stated in the biographical works on narrators. Perhaps this was a slip of the author’s pen, or an error by the copyist. Second, al-Tabarani explicitly stated that Yazid ibn Harun corroborated al-Himmani; he is trustworthy and among the narrators of the two Sahihs. Thus, declaring the hadith defective on account of al-Himmani is a clear error. The correct basis for deeming it weak is Sharik—namely, Sharik ibn Abd Allah, the judge—who is weak because of his poor retention.

However, the hadith is good, or authentic, for it has a corroborating report in its entirety from the hadith of Buraydah ibn al-Husayb, attributed to the Prophet. Ibn Abi Shaybah recorded it in al-Musannaf (10/492–493), as did Abu al-Qasim al-Asbahani in al-Targhib, along with others whom I had previously mentioned when tracing its sources in Takhrij al-Tahawiyyah (p. 126, fourth edition). There I explained that its chain contains Bashir ibn al-Muhajir, who is truthful but somewhat weak in hadith transmission, as stated in al-Taqrib, and I said: