I say:

It may be noted that this text contains material absent from the first report, and that its chain of transmission includes the additional narrator Zaynab bint Abī Salamah between ʿUrwah and Umm Salamah, which is not found in the first report. This led al-Dāraquṭnī to deem this report defective on account of a break in its chain, saying: “ʿUrwah did not hear it from Umm Salamah.” (1) However, al-Ḥāfiẓ refuted this on several grounds, including his previously cited statement that its chain is continuous, and the difference between the two texts, which indicates that they are two separate hadiths: the first concerns the farewell circumambulation, whereas the other concerns the circumambulation of departure on the Day of Sacrifice—besides other points. Consult it if you wish to know more.

2993 — “The righteous pass away, one after another, and there remain only the dregs, like the dregs of barley and dates; Allah gives them no regard.”

It was recorded by al-Bukhārī (6434), in al-Tārīkh (4/1/434), by al-Dārimī (2/301), al-Bayhaqī (10/122), and in al-Zuhd (no. 210), and by Aḥmad (4/193), through Qays ibn Abī Ḥāzim, from Mirdās al-Aslamī, who said: The Prophet said—and he then cited it.

In one narration recorded by Aḥmad, Qays explicitly stated that he heard it from Mirdās, but he attributed the report to the Companion. The same is found in a narration recorded by al-Bukhārī (4156), and this is more sound—especially since it is effectively attributed to the Prophet. It also has corroborating reports previously mentioned under no. 1781.

A point of benefit: This Mirdās was Mirdās ibn Mālik al-Aslamī, and he was among those who pledged beneath the Tree, as Qays explicitly stated in the narration attributed to the Companion. Qays alone narrated from him. Al-Mizzī listed Ziyād ibn ʿIlāqah alongside him, and al-Dhahabī followed him in al-Kāshif; however, both were contradicted in this. Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ listed him among those from whom only Qays narrated according to al-Bukhārī, and al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr followed him in Mukhtaṣar ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth (p. 109). Therefore, al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar said, commenting on al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Mizzī (10/86):