Ahmad also recorded it (4 / 344) through another route from Sufyan, and from Hushaym, from ʿAli ibn Zayd, with the same wording. Ahmad also recorded it elsewhere (5 / 29), as did al-Tabarani in al-Muʿjam al-Kabir (The Great Lexicon) (19 / 667–670), through other routes from ʿAli ibn Zayd. This ʿAli ibn Zayd is Ibn Judʿan, and he is weak. Yet al-Haythami says of him here, in connection with this hadith (8 / 161): “His hadith are good.” Concerning al-Tabarani’s version, he said: “Its chain of transmission is good.”

I say: If a reliable corroborating report is found for it with this addition, “certainly,” then it is good; otherwise, it is not. Indeed, it is good—or stronger—by virtue of the corroborating report narrated by Muhammad ibn ʿAmr, from Safwan ibn Sulaym, from Umm Saʿd bint ʿAmr al-Jumahiyyah, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: “Whoever sponsors an orphan, whether related to him or to someone else, he and I will be in Paradise like these two.”

Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Muʿjam al-Kabir (The Great Lexicon) (25 / 98 / 255–256), and its narrators are trustworthy, as al-Haythami stated (8 / 163). Thus, it is good, were it not for a discrepancy in its chain of transmission, which al-Hafiz clarified in the biographical notice of Murrah ibn ʿAmr in al-Isabah. That, however, does not prevent it from being cited as corroboration. Al-Bukhari also recorded it in abbreviated form in al-Adab al-Mufrad (133), and likewise narrated it in his Sahih; its documentation has already been given under no. 800.

But the hadith has a strong corroborating report narrated by Muslim on the authority of Abu Hurayrah, with the wording: “The sponsor of an orphan, whether related to him or to someone else, and I will be like these two in Paradise.” Malik gestured with his index and middle fingers.