“That was because he possessed nothing of what men possess except something like this small twig. It was for this reason that Allah called him ‘a chief, chaste, and a prophet among the righteous.’” Its chain of transmission is good.

Ibn Abi Hatim also related it in his Tafsir (2/2/1) through another route from Yahya ibn Sa‘id, with the same chain, except that he said: “From Ibn al-‘As; it is not known whether this was ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr or ‘Amr.” Its chain of transmission is authentic. Ibn Kathir (1/361) regarded it as strange, but I see no basis for this, since he had not come across the other route recorded by al-Tabari and Ibn ‘Asakir.

Regarding al-Bazzar’s narration, al-Haythami said: “Its narrators are trustworthy.” I say: Its chain of transmission is authentic. All its narrators are trustworthy narrators of al-Bukhari, apart from his shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Walid—the Baghdadi—whom al-Dhahabi described as “trustworthy,” while al-Hafiz described him as “truthful.” The wording of his hadith is: “No one should say, ‘I am better than John son of Zechariah.’ He never even contemplated a sin—I believe he said: nor did he commit one.”

3 – Abu Hurayrah: It is narrated by Abu al-Azhar Hajjaj ibn Sulayman, from al-Layth ibn Sa‘d, from Muhammad ibn ‘Ajlan, from al-Qa‘qa‘, from Abu Salih, from him, attributed to the Prophet, with the wording: “Every son of Adam will meet Allah with a sin that he committed, for which He may punish him if He wills or show him mercy—except John son of Zechariah, who was ‘a chief, chaste, and a prophet among the righteous.’” Then the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, reached down for a tiny speck from the ground and said: “His organ was like this speck.”