—peace and blessings be upon him—which he had sent to them, and they were certain that it was his letter, just as we today transmit from the books of the sunnah although we have neither seen their authors nor heard them directly from them. Thus, the hadith falls under the category of wijadah—transmission from a written source—mentioned in hadith methodology, and it has been established that it is obligatory to act upon it. For this, consult al-Ba'ith al-Hathith Sharh Ikhtisar 'Ulum al-Hadith by Shaykh Ahmad Shakir—may Allah Most High have mercy on him.

I say: Thus, deeming the hadith defective on account of a break in its chain, as al-Khattabi and others did, is not tenable, for it runs contrary to this established principle. And Allah knows best.

Perhaps this response to that objection is what the verifying hadith scholar al-Hafiz Ibn Abd al-Hadi noted in his book Tanqih al-Tahqiq fi Ahadith al-Ta'liq, when he cited the hadith there (1/278) through the narration of al-Bukhari in his Tarikh and Ibn Hibban in his Sahih, yet did not deem it defective for the reason al-Tahawi had given.

As for some people’s declaring it defective on account of inconsistency in its transmissions, this concerns reports other than this narration of al-Qasim ibn Mukhaymirah, as explained in al-Irwa' (1/79). So take note.

What further strengthens the hadith is that it has a supporting narration through Zam'ah ibn Salih, who said: Abu al-Zubayr narrated to us; he said: I heard Jabir ibn Abdullah say ... Then he cited it, attributing it directly to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, in the wording mentioned above, and it includes a story.

Ibn Abd al-Barr transmitted it in al-Tamhid (9/48) with an authentic chain from Abu Nu'aym, who said: Zam'ah ibn Salih narrated to us likewise.

I say: This is a chain suitable for corroboration, for Abu al-Zubayr explicitly affirmed direct transmission, thereby safeguarding us from the harm of his concealment in transmission.