The first route is from Abu Talhah al-Asadi, who related from him that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, went out and saw an elevated dome. He asked, “What is this?!” His Companions replied, “It belongs to so-and-so, a man from the Ansar.” He remained silent but kept it to himself. Then, when its owner came to greet the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, among the people, he turned away from him. He did this repeatedly, until the man perceived his anger and avoidance of him. So he complained of this to his companions, saying, “By Allah, I find the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, changed toward me.” They said, “He went out and saw your dome.” The man returned to his dome and demolished it, levelling it with the ground. One day, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, went out and did not see it. He asked, “What became of the dome?” They replied, “Its owner complained to us of your turning away from him, so we informed him, and he demolished it.” He then cited the hadith.

It was recorded by Abu Dawud (2/347–348—Taziyah), al-Tahawi in Mushkil al-Athar (1/416), Abu Ya‘la in his Musnad (7/308/1592), and al-Bayhaqi in Shu‘ab al-Iman (7/390/10704), through Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Hatib al-Qurashi, from Abu Talhah.

I say: This is a good chain of transmission, as al-Hafiz al-‘Iraqi stated in Takhrij al-Ihya’ (4/236—al-Ma‘rifah, Lebanon). I had disagreed with him on this in al-Da‘ifah (no. 176), relying on the fact that al-Hafiz said in his biographical notice on Abu Talhah al-Asadi in al-Taqrib: “Acceptable”—that is, when corroborated; otherwise, he is weak in hadith. Moreover, al-Tahdhib does not report that anyone declared him reliable.

Then one of our brothers engaged in this field of knowledge—may Allah reward him well—drew my attention, while al-Da‘ifah was being newly prepared for publication, to the fact that Ibn Hibban had declared him reliable (3/166/B) in Tartib al-Haythami. I therefore returned to Ibn Hibban’s al-Thiqat and found that he had included him among the reliable Successors (5/574), through the narration of Abu al-Umays from him.