Third: it has another route from Ibn ʿAmr: Muḥammad ibn Kathīr narrated from al-Awzāʿī, from Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, from Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from him, attributed to the Prophet, with the wording:
“A man called ʿAbd Allāh will commit sacrilege in Mecca, and upon him will be half the punishment of the world.”
Al-Bazzār recorded it (2/47–48, al-Kashf) and said:
“This is how Muḥammad ibn Kathīr narrated it, and he was not corroborated in this chain of transmission. ʿAbdah reported: from al-Awzāʿī, from a man of the family of al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah, from al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah, from ʿUthmān.”
I say: al-Haythamī found fault with it on account of this Ibn Kathīr, saying (3/284):
“Ṣāliḥ ibn Muḥammad, Ibn Saʿd, and Ibn Ḥibbān declared him trustworthy, whereas Aḥmad deemed him weak.”
Ibn ʿAsākir also recorded it through his route in al-Tārīkh (“The History”) (9/273).
Furthermore, regarding al-Bazzār’s aforementioned statement, “ʿAbdah reported: from al-Awzāʿī, from a man of the family of al-Mughīrah...” and so on: I have not found anyone who transmitted it with a connected chain from ʿAbdah, from al-Awzāʿī, with this report. Rather, Aḥmad transmitted it with a connected chain through al-Walīd ibn Muslim, from al-Awzāʿī, by another chain for it, as will follow. I think that the man from the family of al-Mughīrah was Jaʿfar ibn Abī al-Mughīrah, for Yaʿqūb ibn ʿAbd Allāh narrated it through him, from Ibn Abzā, from ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
When ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr was besieged, he said to him, “I have fine riding-camels prepared for you. Would you like to move to Mecca, so that whoever wishes to come to you may come to you?” He replied, “No. I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say:
“‘A ram of Quraysh, named ʿAbd Allāh, will commit sacrilege in Mecca, and he will bear sins equal to half the sins of the people.’”
Aḥmad recorded it (1/64), as did al-Bazzār and Ibn ʿAsākir (9/273). After attributing it to the first two, al-Haythamī said:
“Its narrators are trustworthy.”