And Abu Zur‘ah al-Dimashqi narrated to us: ‘Ali ibn ‘Ayyash and ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Sulayman ibn Abi al-Jawn narrated to us. They said: Rashid ibn Dawud al-San‘ani narrated to us, from Abu ‘Uthman al-San‘ani, from Abu al-Darda’, who said:

There was a drought during the time of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, so we asked him to pray for rain on our behalf, and he did so. The next morning, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, went out and found some people conversing, saying, “We were given rain by such-and-such a star.” The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, then said … and he cited it.

Al-Bazzar also transmitted it in his Musnad (1/316/658, Kashf al-Astar): Ibrahim—namely, Ibn Hani’ (1)—narrated to us; Muhammad (2) ibn Isma‘il ibn ‘Ayyash narrated to us; my father narrated to me; Rashid ibn Dawud al-San‘ani narrated to me, with the same chain. It includes the additional wording: “and he asked Him for rain.”

I say: These are two routes to Rashid ibn Dawud al-San‘ani—who is truthful but prone to errors—from Abu ‘Uthman al-San‘ani, whose name was Sharahil ibn Mirthad. He was a trustworthy narrator of the generation spanning the pre-Islamic and Islamic eras. Thus, through the first route from him, the report is sound, since all its narrators are trustworthy. For Isma‘il ibn ‘Ayyash is trustworthy, and his hadith are authentic when he narrates from Syrians; and this is one of them.

Through the other route from him, it is good in itself, or at the very least good due to corroborating evidence, because Ibn Abi al-Jawn was truthful but made errors, as stated in al-Taqrib. It is therefore strengthened by Isma‘il ibn ‘Ayyash’s corroboration of him.

The hadith also has corroborating reports that add further strength to its existing strength:

The first is from Zayd ibn Khalid al-Juhani, attributed to the Prophet with similar wording. It was narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim and others, and is documented in al-Irwa’ (3/144/681).