I say: It is as he—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—said. This al-Qāsim is Ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Dimashqī, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, an associate of Abū Umāmah; he is truthful, and his reports are good. As for al-Waḍīn ibn ʿAṭāʾ, Ibn Abī Ḥātim mentioned him, citing reports from a number of trustworthy narrators who transmitted from him. It is reported from Ibn Maʿīn that he said of him, “There is no harm in him.” Aḥmad said, “He is trustworthy; there is no harm in him.” Abū Ḥātim said, “Some of his reports are recognized, and others are rejected.” I say: A narrator of this calibre does not have reports that fall below the rank of good.

Al-Bukhārī made no comment about him in al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr, and the two transmitters after him in the chain are well-known, trustworthy narrators whose reports al-Bukhārī included. Thus, through this chain, the report is a strong corroborating narration for what Abū Dāwūd and others narrated through a good chain from Abū ʿĀʾishah, an associate of Abū Hurayrah: Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ asked Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī and Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān, “How did the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, pronounce the takbīrs at Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr?” Abū Mūsā replied, “He would pronounce four takbīrs, as he did in the funeral prayer.” Ḥudhayfah said, “He has spoken the truth.” Abū Mūsā then said, “This is how I used to pronounce the takbīrs in Basra when I was in authority over its people.” Abū ʿĀʾishah said, “And I was present with Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ.”

However, this Abū ʿĀʾishah is unknown, as al-Dhahabī stated, while al-Ḥāfiẓ said, “Acceptable”—that is, when corroborated. Accordingly, al-Ḥāfiẓ should regard this hadith as acceptable, since al-Qāsim Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān corroborated him in al-Ṭaḥāwī’s narration. Although he did not name the Companion, this causes no harm in Sunni hadith methodology, since all the Companions are upright; moreover, it is possible that he was Abū Mūsā, who appears in the other chain. Indeed, how could the hadith not be acceptable when its chain in the first narration is good? It is, in fact, a rare and sound narration,