I say: This is an obscure chain of transmission, riddled with defects: 1. Jaʿfar ibn Saʿd ibn Samurah. Al-Hafiz said in al-Taqrib: “He is not strong.” 2. Khubayb ibn Sulayman, who is unknown. 3. His father, Sulayman ibn Samurah, who is acceptable. I say: Accordingly, the addition is rejected.

2895 — “Whoever loves them loves me, and whoever hates them hates me”—meaning Hasan and Husayn, may Allah be pleased with them both.

Ahmad transmitted it in al-Musnad (2/440) and in al-Fadaʾil (2/777/1376), and through his route al-Hakim (3/166) and al-Bazzar (3/227/2627), from Jaʿfar ibn Iyas, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Masʿud, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, came out to us with Hasan and Husayn, one on each shoulder. He would kiss one and then kiss the other, until he reached us. A man said to him, “O Messenger of Allah, you love them!” He replied with the above.

Al-Bazzar said: “We know of no report transmitted by Abd al-Rahman ibn Masʿud from Abu Hurayrah except this one.” I say: On the contrary, he has another hadith from him which was mentioned previously under no. 360. However, it appears there as “Abd al-Rahman ibn Abd Allah ibn Masʿud,” as quoted from Mawarid al-Zamʾan. After the publication of its source, Sahih Ibn Hibban, and of the book of his shaykh cited therein, Musnad Abi Yaʿla, it became clear that the insertion of “Abd Allah” between “Abd al-Rahman” and “Masʿud” was an error by the copyist or printer.