Al-Bahazī said: “Had I not heard something from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, I would not have stood here.” When Muʿāwiyah heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, being mentioned, he made the people sit down and said:

“While we were with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān passed by wearing a striped garment [draped low]. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then said ...” He then cited it.

Ibn Ḥawālah al-Azdī rose from beside the pulpit and said: “Are you the one concerned by this?” He replied, “Yes.” He said: “By Allah, I was present at that gathering. Had I known that there was someone in the army who would corroborate me, I would have been the first to speak of it.”

The two additions are from al-Ṭabarānī. Al-Haythamī attributed it solely to him in al-Majmaʿ (9/89) and said:

“Its narrators have been declared reliable.”

I say: Aḥmad’s chain of transmission is authentic according to Muslim’s criteria. Muʿāwiyah is Ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Ḥimṣī, concerning whom al-Ḥāfiẓ said in al-Taqrīb:

“Truthful, though he made errors.”

It also has a second chain of transmission, narrated by Wuhayb ibn Khālid: Ayyūb narrated to us from Abū Qilābah, from Abū al-Ashʿath, who said:

Several speakers rose at Iliyāʾ (Jerusalem) during Muʿāwiyah’s rule and spoke. The last to speak was Murrah ibn Kaʿb, who said: “Had I not heard a hadith from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, I would not have stood up ...” He then cited it in abbreviated form. It includes:

“A veiled man passed by, and he said: ‘This man, on that day, and his companions will be upon the truth and guidance.’ I said, ‘This one, O Messenger of Allah?’—and I turned his face toward him. He replied, ‘This one.’ And it was ʿUthmān, may Allah be pleased with him.”