in his Musnad. This puzzled me, so I continued searching to ascertain the truth. I found that al-Hakim had recorded it elsewhere, not in the place to which I had attributed Isma‘il’s narration, and through a route other than his: he recorded it (1/55) through Ya‘qub ibn Ibrahim. This is a strong corroborating route; had it been established, the chain would have been authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs, as al-Hakim stated. Yet I have reservations about it, for he narrated it from his shaykh al-Qati‘i: “‘Abd Allah ibn Ahmad narrated to us; my father narrated to me; Ya‘qub ibn Ibrahim narrated to us,” and so on.

The apparent indication of this chain is that the hadith is in Ahmad’s Musnad, since it is transmitted through al-Qati‘i, as is well known. Yet, after further searching for it and employing every available means, both old and new, I strongly suspect that it is not found there:

First: al-Haythami did not mention it in his Majma‘, although he mentioned the hadiths of Abu Sa‘id and Abu Umamah referred to above.

Second: al-Hafiz himself did not include it in Atraf al-Musnad, as one of my brothers informed me.

Third: our brother Hamdi ‘Abd al-Majid al-Salafi likewise did not mention it in Faharis al-Musnad,

in addition to other means known today.

It follows that attributing it unqualifiedly to Ahmad is an error, since this implies that it is in the Musnad, whereas it is not. The matter can therefore be no more than one of three possibilities:

First: the hadith may have been narrated by Ahmad outside the Musnad, such as in al-Zuhd and Fada’il al-Sahabah, for both are transmitted through al-Qati‘i.

Second: it may be among al-Qati‘i’s errors, for there has been criticism of him on account of his having become confused toward the end of his life.

Third: it may be one of al-Hakim’s errors concerning al-Qati‘i. And Allah knows best. *