Its fuller original version is found in Sahih al-Bukhari (5466), through the second route, with similar wording. It also has numerous chains from Anas in the two Sahih collections and elsewhere. The documentation of one of them has preceded under hadith (3148).
- Page 1131, under hadith (2963):
The book Sending Blessings upon the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—by Ibn Abi Asim was then published in 1415 AH, edited by our brother Hamdi al-Salafi. I found the hadith in it as previously stated, through al-Daylami’s narration from him, except that, in place of “... ibn Azhar,” it reads “... ibn Zahir.” I was unable to identify him, though it is possible that he is Muhammad ibn Zahir, the nephew of Khaythamah Zuhayr ibn Harb, for he belongs to this generation. Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Khatib (5/289), and Ibn Asakir (15/327) included his biography. If he is indeed the same person, then the chain of transmission is sound, for all its other narrators are trustworthy, although some of them have been deemed weak.
Ibn Abi Asim then said (54/70): “Abu Yahya Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahim narrated to us: al-Husayn ibn Muhammad narrated to us: Shayban narrated to us, from Qatadah, from Anas ibn Malik, from Abu Talhah, attributing it to the Prophet, with the wording of the aforementioned hadith of Abu al-Awwam (p. 1126), except for the words: ‘For I am only a messenger among the messengers.’”
Ibn Abi Hatim also narrated it from his shaykh, Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn al-Junayd, who said: “Abu Bakr al-Ayan and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahim—al-Saiqah—narrated to us: Husayn ibn Muhammad narrated to us,” through the same chain, as recorded in Tafsir Ibn Kathir (4/25).
I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy and are among the narrators of the two Shaykhs. Al-Husayn ibn Muhammad is Ibn Bahram al-Tamimi al-Marwazi, and Shayban is Ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Nahwi. Thus, the hadith is authentic, and all praise is due to Allah.