3115—“There were images in the Kaʿbah, so ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ordered that they be erased. ʿUmar wetted a cloth and erased them with it. Then the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, entered it, and there was nothing in it.”

Aḥmad recorded it (3/396): Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to us, from Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah, from Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir, who said … and then cited it.

I say: This is a good chain meeting Muslim’s criteria. Abū al-Zubayr explicitly stated that he received the report directly, and he was corroborated, as follows: Aḥmad (3/383) said: Rūḥ narrated to us: Ibn Jurayj narrated to us: Abū al-Zubayr informed me that he heard Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh say … and then cited it with similar wording.

This is an authentic chain with a continuous chain of transmission.

Aḥmad (3/335) and al-Bayhaqī, in Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah (Proofs of Prophethood) (5/73), then recorded it through two other chains from Ibn Jurayj, with the same wording.

Ibn Lahīʿah also corroborated him: Abū al-Zubayr narrated to us likewise. Aḥmad recorded it (3/336).

Wahb also narrated it from Jābir likewise. Ibn Saʿd recorded it in al-Ṭabaqāt (The Generations) (2/142), through a good chain from Wahb—namely, Wahb ibn Munabbih al-Yamānī—who was a trustworthy Successor whose reports are recorded by both al-Bukhārī and Muslim.

The hadith has two abbreviated supporting narrations:

The first is from Ṣafiyyah bint Shaybah, who said:

“I saw the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, wet a cloth while he was in the Kaʿbah; then he began striking the images within it.”