I say: The chain is authentic and is not rendered defective by Hisham ibn Ammar, in view of these corroborating transmissions. Al-Tahawi, however, deemed it defective in al-Mushkil, though not in Maʻani al-Athar, saying:

“The elders from Juhaynah are unnamed, and we do not know that they were Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.”

I say: This objection is without merit. Even if they were not all Companions—which I consider unlikely—they were undoubtedly Successors, like Abdullah ibn Ukaym. Ibn Hibban mentioned him among the Companions in his book al-Thiqat (3/247), saying:

“He lived during the Prophet’s time, peace and blessings be upon him, but did not hear anything from him...”

He then cited this hadith of his.

Al-Khatib included his biography in al-Tarikh (10/3–4), noting that he heard from a group of Companions and that a group of trustworthy Successors narrated from him, apart from al-Qasim ibn Mukhaymirah. He then said:

“He was trustworthy.”

Thus, his shaykhs in this hadith—even on the assumption that none of them was a Companion—were senior mukhaḍram Successors, of a generation higher than Ibn Ukaym. Even if they were not trustworthy like him—which I likewise consider unlikely—they were narrators of unestablished reliability; yet they constituted a group whose anonymity is offset by their number, as al-Sakhawi and others have said regarding reports other than this one. Concerning a hadith transmitted by several sons of Companions, he said—may Allah have mercy on him:

“Its chain is unobjectionable, and it is not harmed by the anonymity of those unnamed sons of the Companions, for they are a number by which their anonymity is offset.”

See it in Ghayat al-Maram (272/471).

I say: Accordingly, the hadith is authentic and connected, because they narrate from the Prophet’s letter