“Its chain of transmission is authentic: ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Saʿīd ibn Jubayr is trustworthy; he was included by …”

He then discussed this trustworthy narrator, when it would have sufficed simply to point that out, while ignoring any discussion of Layth ibn Abī Sulaym. Allah has His ways with His creation.

The second part of the hadith has been narrated from a number of the Companions in similar wordings in the two Ṣaḥīḥs and elsewhere.

As for his saying, “I shall precede you to the Pond,” it is mass-transmitted from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim documented a goodly number of its narrations at the beginning of the second part of Kitāb al-Sunnah; whoever wishes may consult them.

Note: From what has preceded, you have learned that the wordings of the hadith differ among those who recorded it—Aḥmad, al-Bazzār, and al-Ṭabarānī in his two Muʿjams—and that one of the two chains in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr differs from the other. Among the poor discussion and hadith documentation concerning this hadith is what Shaykh al-Aʿẓamī did in his commentary on Kashf al-Astār: he failed to clarify the differences among their narrations and the variations in their length and brevity. Thus, he gave the impression that the wording found in Aḥmad is the wording of al-Bazzār; he also gave the impression that it has no other chain besides that of Layth, whereas the reality is otherwise, as has been explained above. *

3088—(Al-Walīd ibn ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ was sent to Banū al-Muṣṭaliq to collect their alms. When news reached them, they rejoiced and went out to meet the Messenger of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. But when al-Walīd was told that they had come out to meet him, he returned to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and said:

“O Messenger of Allah, Banū al-Muṣṭaliq have withheld the alms.”