This makes clear the laxity—or error—of the annotator on Majmaʿ al-Baḥrayn when he said (8/128), under the forthcoming hadith of Layth ibn Abī Sulaym:

“However, al-Ṭabarānī narrated it in al-Kabīr (12/71) with similar wording, and its chain of transmission is good!”

What is correct is to say:

“Its chain of transmission is good due to supporting evidence.”

This is because of the transmission of Layth referred to above. Al-Bazzār recorded it (4/176/3480) through the route of ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ziyād, from Layth, from Ṭāwūs, from Ibn ʿAbbās, with the same wording.

Al-Ṭabarānī also recorded it in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (11/33/10953) and al-Awsaṭ (1/162/1/3022), and said:

“No one narrated this hadith except ʿAbd al-Wāḥid.”

I say: He is trustworthy, as are all the remaining narrators. However, Layth’s memory had deteriorated, so he is among those whose reports may be used as corroborative evidence. He also narrated it through another chain, saying: from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from his father, from Ibn ʿAbbās, with the same wording as the narration of Yaʿlā, Yahyā’s father, except for its second part.

Al-Bazzār recorded it (2/210/1536), as did Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim in al-Sunnah (2/246/745 and 359/773), in abridged form.

Aḥmad and his son ʿAbd Allāh, in the latter’s additions, also recorded it (1/257), with the second part, preceded only by an abridged wording:

“I shall precede you to the Pond; whoever comes to it will prosper. And groups of people will be brought …”

Among the strange things is the statement of Shaykh Aḥmad Shākir—may Allah have mercy on him—in his commentary on the Musnad (4/94):