ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb entered while the Ethiopians were playing in the mosque, so he rebuked them. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said ... and then cited it. The wording is al-Ṭaḥāwī’s, though his version does not contain the words: “O ʿUmar.”

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission according to the criteria of al-Bukhārī and Muslim. Its basis is found in both of their collections through Maʿmar, from al-Zuhrī, with similar wording. Its wording is:

“While the Ethiopians were playing with their spears in the presence of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb entered. He reached down for some pebbles and began throwing them at them, whereupon the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to him: ‘Leave them alone, O ʿUmar!’”

It was recorded by al-Bukhārī (6/92/2901), Muslim (3/23), Ibn Ḥibbān (7/544/5837), al-Bayhaqī in al-Sunan (10/17), Aḥmad (2/308), and al-Baghawī in Sharḥ al-Sunnah (4/323/1112), all through ʿAbd al-Razzāq, who said: Maʿmar narrated to us from al-Zuhrī, through the same chain.

Note: The annotator of Mushkil al-Āthār (1/268, Muʾassasat al-Risālah edition) made three errors concerning this hadith:

First, he said of al-Ṭaḥāwī’s chain of transmission: “Authentic according to al-Bukhārī’s criterion.” This is incorrect, for al-Ṭaḥāwī’s chain is as follows: Sulaymān ibn Shuʿayb al-Kaysānī narrated to us; Bishr ibn Bakr narrated to us; al-Awzāʿī narrated to me ... and so on.

This al-Kaysānī was neither among al-Bukhārī’s teachers nor among the teachers of any of the other six compilers; rather, he belonged to their generation. He was, however, trustworthy: al-ʿUqaylī declared him trustworthy, as stated in al-Lisān (3/96), as did al-Samʿānī in al-Ansāb. Thus, the correct statement is simply that its chain of transmission is authentic.

Second, he attributed it to al-Bukhārī, Muslim, and al-Baghawī, whereas their versions do not contain the words: “for they are the Banu Arfidah—the descendants of Arfidah,” as mentioned above.