As for his father, Abu Mansur al-Azdi, I found no biographical notice for him except in al-Dhahabi’s al-Muqtaña fi Sard al-Kuna, where he said: “Abu Yazid al-Azdi narrated from Abu Hurayrah, and Sallam ibn Miskin narrated from him.” It is possible that he is the same person, but even so, I do not know his status.

2937 — “Had he left it alone, it would have kept turning—or grinding—until the Day of Resurrection.”

Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Awsat (2/41/2), and al-Bayhaqi in al-Dala'il (6/105), through Ahmad ibn Abd Allah ibn Yunus: Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash narrated to us from Hisham ibn Hassan, from Muhammad ibn Sirin, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: A man was afflicted by need, so he went out into the open country. His wife said: “O Allah, provide for us what we may knead and bake.” The man then came back and found the large bowl full of dough, grains roasting in the oven, and the millstone grinding. He said, “Where did this come from?” She replied, “From Allah’s provision.” So he swept away what was around the millstone. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then said the words cited above.

This is al-Tabarani’s wording. He said: “No one narrated it from Muhammad ibn Sirin except Hisham, and no one narrated it from him except Abu Bakr; Ahmad alone narrated it.” I say: He is trustworthy and among the narrators of the two Shaykhs, as are those above him, apart from Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash, who is among al-Bukhari’s narrators. There is some slight criticism of him, but it does not lower his hadith below the rank of good—especially since it has another chain, as will follow. Al-Bazzar also recorded it through this route in his Musnad (4/267/3687) and said: “We know of no one who narrated it from Hisham except Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash.”