And I say: This is likewise how it is worded in al-Ḥāfiẓ’s Mukhtaṣar Zawāʾid al-Bazzār (1/294/448), unlike its wording in Kashf al-Astār, where it reads:

“He would point with a staff when delivering a sermon.”

In my view, this wording—“point”—is rejected. I do not know whether this addition is established in al-Bazzār’s text, in which case it would be one of al-Bazzār’s errors, or whether it is a mistake made by one of the copyists; or perhaps its original wording was, “He would hold [a staff],” which was corrupted by the copyist. And Allah knows best.

This hadith has many corroborating reports that add further strength to its already strong standing. I mentioned some of them in al-Irwāʾ (3/78 and 99), and documented many sound ones in al-Ḍaʿīfah (2/380–383). There I explained that his leaning on a staff did not occur while he, peace and blessings be upon him, was on the minbar. Refer to it, for it is important. *

3038—“It is from the sunnah to eat [on the Day of Fiṭr] before going out, even if only a date.”

Al-Bazzār narrated it in his Musnad (1/312/651): “Ibrāhīm ibn Hāniʾ narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb narrated to us, from Abū Shihāb ʿAbd Rabbih ibn Nāfiʿ—a well-known Kūfan—from al-Aʿmash, from Muslim ibn Ṣubayḥ, from Ibn ʿAbbās,” who said … and then cited it. He said:

“We know it only through this chain of transmission.”

I say: Its chain of transmission is authentic. The status of some of its narrators was unknown to al-Haythamī, so he said (2/199)—after citing it with this wording and with the wording of al-Ṭabarānī’s al-Awsaṭ, which follows:

“In al-Bazzār’s chain are narrators whom I did not recognize.”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ then criticized this statement in Mukhtaṣar al-Zawāʾid, saying immediately afterward (1/299):