As for al-Busiri’s statement, “... the hadith of al-Muttalib ibn Abi Wada'ah,” it is an error to which attention has already been drawn in the remarks of the annotator mentioned above. I too had fallen into it when I composed my book Rulings on Funerals and Their Innovations approximately twenty-five years ago. Then the eminent Dr. Abd al-Alim Abd al-Azim, may Allah reward him well, alerted me to it, based on what appears in Tuhfat al-Ashraf by al-Hafiz al-Mizzi. When I reconsidered the chain of transmission and the biographical entry for Kathir ibn Zayd, the error became clear to me. My insight increased when I saw that Ibn Sa'd had recorded the hadith in abbreviated form (3/399) through Kathir ibn Zayd, from al-Muttalib ibn Abd Allah ibn Hantab. Although Ibn Sa'd narrated it from his teacher Muhammad ibn Umar—namely, al-Waqidi, who is abandoned—in a case such as this, even if his report is of no benefit, it causes no harm.

More than one scholar has indicated that the hadith is established in its general purport. Ibn Abd al-Barr said in his biographical entry on Uthman ibn Maz'un in al-Isti'ab:

“The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, marked his grave with a stone, and he used to visit it.”

Ibn al-Athir said likewise in Usd al-Ghabah.

I also found a brief corroborating report through Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Amr ibn Hazm, who said:

“I saw the grave of Uthman ibn Maz'un, and beside it was something raised”—that is, as though it were a marker.

Ibn Sa'd recorded it (3/397) with a good chain to him.

This indicates that the stone which the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, placed with his own hand remained on the grave of Ibn Maz'un, may Allah be pleased with him, until the second Hijri century. For this Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Hazm died in 120 AH. His words, “something,” suggest that the stone was not visible, perhaps because earth had accumulated over it. And Allah knows best.