I say: This is a good chain, at the very least for purposes of corroboration and support, for ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī al-Zinād is a disputed narrator; the established conclusion concerning him is that his hadith is good when he is not contradicted. This account of the Abyssinians has been transmitted from ʿĀʾishah through several routes in the two Ṣaḥīḥs and elsewhere. I traced its sources in Ādāb al-Zifāf, where I collected the additional wordings and placed them in square brackets []. Among them is not the phrase, “I have been sent with an upright and tolerant faith,” for at that time I had come to doubt its authenticity, since it conflicted with all the routes referred to above. Moreover, it does not occur in another route from her recorded by al-Ḥumaydī (no. 254), despite the fact that this route contains the preceding addition: “Let the Jews know that there is latitude in our religion.” All of this led me at that time to disregard it and not rely on it. But when I came across the hadith under discussion and its supporting reports, I became confident of its authenticity. So praise be to Allah, by Whose blessing righteous deeds are brought to completion.

As for the hadiths of Jābir and Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, they are both weak. I had traced their sources and uncovered their hidden defects in Ghāyat al-Marām (no. 8), under the hadith, “I have been sent with the upright and tolerant faith,” and I had judged them weak for the reason mentioned above.

As for the hadith of Ibn ʿAbbās, its wording differs from this. Ibn ʿAbbās said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was asked, “Which religion is most beloved to Allah?” He replied, “The upright and tolerant faith.” I traced its sources there and explained that its chain contains Ibn Isḥāq’s ambiguous use of the transmission formula “from,” as well as other issues. I also criticized al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar for grading its chain good. However, I deemed its text good on account of certain supporting reports, which I mentioned in Tamām al-Minnah fī al-Taʿlīq ʿalā Fiqh al-Sunnah. For this reason, I included it in al-Ṣaḥīḥah as no. 881 and referred to its supporting reports there, directing the reader to Tamām al-Minnah. I then included it in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ (158). I had also mentioned, in my source-documentation of the hadith of Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, that its chain contains Bard al-Ḥarīrī, whom I did not know.