Note: In al-Talkhis (p. 333), al-Hafiz attributed this hadith to al-Darimi, and al-Shawkani followed him in this in Nayl al-Awtar (5/243). It is conventionally understood among scholars that when al-Darimi is mentioned without qualification, what is meant is Imam Abdullah ibn Abd al-Rahman, the author of the Sunan collection known as al-Musnad. Accordingly, I began searching for it there, but in vain. This was before I came across the chain of transmission of the hadith in al-Bayhaqi’s Sunan. It then became clear to me that he was not the one intended; rather, it was Uthman ibn Sa'id al-Darimi, through whose route al-Bayhaqi narrated it. I therefore thought it worth drawing attention to this.

Al-Shawkani also made an error that was further removed from correctness: he said that al-Darimi’s chain of transmission meets Muslim’s conditions, yet he did not mention the exception previously noted by al-Hafiz.

The hadith also has another supporting narration from Ubayy ibn Ka'b, but its chain is weak. I discussed it in al-Irwa' (1488), and what has preceded is sufficient.

257 — “Whoever recites the Quran, let him ask Allah by it, for there will come people who recite the Quran and use it to ask people.”

Al-Tirmidhi (4/55) and Ahmad (4/432–433 and 439) narrated it from Sufyan, from al-A'mash, from Khaythamah, from al-Hasan, from Imran ibn Husayn: he passed by a reciter who was reciting and then solicited people. Imran then said, “We belong to Allah and to Him we return,” and said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say...” He then mentioned the hadith.

Al-Tirmidhi said:

“Mahmud—that is, his shaykh Ibn Ghaylan—said: ‘This is Khaythamah al-Basri, from whom Jabir al-Ju'fi narrated; he is not Khaythamah ibn Abd al-Rahman. This is a good hadith. This Khaythamah was a shaykh from Basra, whose kunyah was Abu Nasr.’”

I say: Ibn Ma'in said of him: “He is of no account.”