“It is as though I can see the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, portraying one of the prophets whom his people struck and caused to bleed, as he wiped the blood from his face and said: ‘O Allah, forgive …’”—to the end of the hadith.

It was narrated by al-Bukhari (3477), Muslim (5/179), Ibn Majah (4025), Ahmad (1/380, 432, and 441), and Abu Nu‘aym in Akhbar Asbahan (2/161), through various routes from al-A‘mash, with this wording. In one narration, Ahmad added:

“His people would beat him until he collapsed.”

Its chain of transmission is authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs.

Immediately afterward, Ahmad related through the same chain from Ibn Mas‘ud, who said:

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, made a distribution, and a man said, “This is a distribution by which Allah’s pleasure was not sought!”

He said: So I came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and informed him of that. His face reddened—Shu‘bah said: I think he said—and he became angry, until I wished that I had not told him. Shu‘bah said: And I suppose he said: “May Allah have mercy on us and on Moses”—Shu‘bah was uncertain regarding the words, “May Allah have mercy on us and on Moses”—“he was harmed more than this, yet he bore it patiently.”

There is no uncertainty in this version regarding the words: “He was harmed more than that, yet he bore it patiently.”

Ahmad also narrated it elsewhere (1/411) without Shu‘bah’s uncertainty.

Al-Bukhari likewise narrated it (6/436/3405 and 11/136/6336) through other routes from Shu‘bah, with this wording.

Ahmad (1/380) and al-Bukhari (8/55, 10/475, and 511) also narrated it through Sufyan, from al-A‘mash, with this wording.