It is further corroborated by the lengthy hadith of Abū Dharr himself, recorded by Abū Dāwūd and others, and authenticated by Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Dāraquṭnī, and others. It is cited in al-Irwāʾ (1/181/153) and Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd (358–360). *
- “Whenever a man embraced Islam, the first thing he would teach us was the prayer”—or he said: “Teach him the prayer.”
Al-Bazzār recorded it in his Musnad (1/171/338): Abū Kurayb narrated to us: Abū Muʿāwiyah narrated to us: [Abū Mālik al-Ashjaʿī narrated to us] from his father, who said … and he mentioned it.
I say: This is also an authentic chain of transmission; all its narrators are trustworthy:
Abū Kurayb—namely, Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAlāʾ al-Kūfī—was a trustworthy ḥadīth master and one of the narrators relied upon by the Two Shaykhs.
Abū Muʿāwiyah—namely, Muḥammad ibn Khāzim al-Kūfī—was one of the narrators relied upon by the Two Shaykhs. Al-Ḥāfiẓ said in al-Taqrīb: “Trustworthy; the most accurate of people in narrating al-Aʿmash’s hadiths, though he may err in hadiths from others.”
I say: He was corroborated, as will follow.
Abū Mālik al-Ashjaʿī—whose name was Saʿd ibn Ṭāriq ibn Ashyam—was trustworthy and one of Muslim’s narrators. His father was a well-known Companion. Muslim recorded two hadiths from him in his Ṣaḥīḥ, while al-Ṭabarānī recorded seventeen hadiths from him, excluding repetitions. Aḥmad recorded six of these, some of which are also found in the Sunan collections. In many of them, he explicitly states that he heard directly from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.
Al-Ṭabarānī also recorded the hadith in abbreviated form in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr, saying:
(8/380/8186): Muḥammad ibn Hishām ibn Abī al-Dumayk narrated to us: al-Ḥasan ibn Ḥammād