I say: This is how it appears in the Musnad, and likewise in al-Haythamī’s citation from it (10/190); yet I have been unable to discern the meaning, and so I fear that an omission occurred in the original. He then said in his source-documentation:
“Aḥmad narrated it, giving the name as ʿUbādah, while al-Ṭabarānī gave it as ʿAbbād—Allah knows best. The narrators in some of Aḥmad’s and al-Ṭabarānī’s chains are the narrators of the Ṣaḥīḥ.”
I say: This is an authentic chain with continuity.
Aḥmad also transmitted it immediately before this chain, and elsewhere (3/470), as did al-Dārimī (2/315), al-Bukhārī in al-Tārīkh (3/2/94), and al-Bayhaqī (6141), through the route of Ayyūb from Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl, who said that ʿUbādah ibn Quraṣ related it, adding:
“He said: This was mentioned to Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, and he said, ‘He spoke the truth, and I consider trailing one’s lower garment to be among them.’”
I say: His statement, “ʿUbādah said,” has the appearance of a suspended report; thus, apparently, he did not hear it from ʿUbādah. This is supported by the first route, for there is Abū Qatādah al-ʿAdawī between them, as you have seen. *
- “Everything—even the fish in the seas—seeks forgiveness for the one who teaches goodness.”
Al-Ṭabarānī recorded it in al-Awsaṭ (2/85/1/6355): Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣāʾigh narrated to us; Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn Zurārah al-Raqqī narrated to us; Abū Isḥāq al-Fazārī narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Abū Sufyān, from Jābir, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said … and he mentioned it. He said:
“No one narrated it from al-Aʿmash except Abū Isḥāq al-Fazārī.”
I say: He was a trustworthy hadith master, among the narrators relied upon by both al-Bukhārī and Muslim. His name was Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥārith. The same is true of al-Aʿmash, whose name was Sulaymān ibn Mihrān.
Abū Sufyān was likewise among their narrators; his name was Ṭalḥah ibn Nāfiʿ al-Wāsiṭī.