the two Eid prayers: whoever wishes may say four takbīrs in each prayer, on the basis of this hadith and the reports that accompany it; and whoever wishes may say seven in the first and five in the second, on the basis of the hadith with a continuous chain to the Prophet to which al-Bayhaqī referred. It has been narrated from a group of Companions, and its combined routes rise to the level of authenticity, as I have demonstrated in Irāʾ al-Ghalīl, no. 639. Al-Ṭaḥāwī’s grading these reports as weak is therefore unwarranted, just as his opponents’ grading these proofs as weak is unwarranted. The truth is that all of this is permissible: whichever practice one follows, he has fulfilled the sunnah. There is no need for partisanship and division, though seven and five are dearer to me because they involve more takbīrs.

2998 — “If you wish Allah and His Messenger to love you, then uphold three qualities: truthfulness in speech, fulfilling trusts, and being a good neighbour.”

Al-Khalʿī reported it in al-Fawāʾid (18/73/1) from Abū al-Dardāʾ Hāshim ibn Muḥammad al-Anṣārī, who said: ʿAmr ibn Bakr al-Saksakī informed us, from Ibn Jābir, from Anas ibn Mālik, who said: Guests from Bahrain came to stay with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. The Prophet called for his ablution water and performed ablution. They hastened to the water he had used for ablution and drank whatever they could obtain of it. Whatever flowed onto the ground, they wiped over their faces, heads, and chests with it. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, asked them, “What prompted you to do that?” They replied, “Out of love for you, in the hope that Allah may love us, O Messenger of Allah.” Thereupon the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said the above, adding at its end: “For harming one’s neighbour erases good deeds just as the sun melts ice.”

I say: This chain is very weak. ʿAmr ibn Bakr al-Saksakī is abandoned, as stated in al-Taqrīb. However, most of the hadith has been narrated through other routes, whose combined evidence indicates that it has an established basis. First: Ibn Wahb, along with a group of others, reported it through Yūnus ibn Yazīd, from Ibn Shihāb.