Al-Haythami cited this hadith of Amr in al-Majmaʿ (9/405) through both of its versions—that is, through Asbagh and al-Walid—and said: “Both were narrated by Abu Yaʿla and al-Tabarani through chains of transmission; the narrators in Abu Yaʿla’s chain and in some of al-Tabarani’s chains are narrators of the Sahih.”

I then found another route for the hadith from Amr ibn Hurayth, by which it is further strengthened. Al-Bukhari said in al-Tarikh al-Kabir (1/2/190): Abu Nuʿaym said: Fitr narrated to us from his father, who heard Amr ibn Hurayth say: “My father took me to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, when I was a boy. He supplicated for blessing for me and wiped my head.”

This is a good chain for supporting and corroborating reports. Its narrators are narrators of al-Bukhari, apart from Fitr’s father, who was Khalifah, the freedman of Amr ibn Hurayth. Ibn Hibban included him in al-Thiqat (4/209), citing this very report transmitted by his son. Ibn al-Qattan said: “His status is unknown.” Al-Hafiz said in al-Taqrib: “Weak in hadith.” That is, when he is the sole narrator; otherwise, his hadith is accepted when corroborated, as it is here.

Perhaps for this reason Ibn Abd al-Barr affirmed the hadith unequivocally. In Amr ibn Hurayth’s biographical entry in al-Istiʿab, he said: “He saw the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and heard from him. He wiped his head, supplicated for blessing for him, and marked out for him a house-plot in Medina with a bow.”