Mus'ab ibn Sa'id al-Massisi said: Isa ibn Yunus narrated to us from Awf al-A'rabi, from Thumamah, from Anas, who said:

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, passed by a quarter of Banu al-Najjar, where young girls were beating tambourines and singing:

“We are young girls of Banu al-Najjar;
How wonderful Muhammad is as a neighbour!”

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, then spoke the words quoted above.

Al-Tabarani said: “No one narrated it from Awf other than Isa, and Mus'ab ibn Sa'id alone narrated it.”

I say: He is truthful, as Ibn Abi Hatim related from his father (4/1/309).

Ibn Hibban also declared him trustworthy in al-Thiqat (9/175) and said:

“He may at times err. His hadith may be considered when he narrates from reliable narrators and explicitly states that he heard it, for he practised tadlis.”

I say: As you can see, he explicitly stated that he heard it, and those above him in the chain are trustworthy narrators found in the two Sahihs. Thus, the chain of transmission is good, even though Ibn Adi criticized this al-Massisi. Al-Dhahabi therefore included him in al-Mizan, and al-Hafiz followed him in al-Lisan; yet both of them overlooked Abu Hatim’s statement concerning him: “Truthful!”

Moreover, he was not alone in narrating it, contrary to al-Tabarani’s assertion. Ibn Majah (1/612/1899) said: Hisham ibn Ammar narrated to us; Isa ibn Yunus narrated to us through this chain, with the wording:

“Allah knows that I truly love you girls.”

Al-Busiri said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic, and its narrators are trustworthy.”

I say: It may be regarded as authentic due to corroboration, since al-Massisi corroborates him, despite the well-known disagreement concerning Hisham ibn Ammar—although he was one of al-Bukhari’s teachers in his Sahih, whom he cited as evidence,