on the basis of the principle that “an addition made by a trustworthy narrator is accepted.” All the more so when it is supported by those whom we have mentioned—and when it has a corroborating report in the hadith of Jabir, which follows it.

As for the third addition, although Shuʿayb ibn Harb alone narrated it to the exclusion of the others, it is merely a verbal addition, for the context, together with the agreed-upon addition, supports its meaning. Reflect on this.

As for the second addition, another trustworthy narrator alone transmitted it: Saʿid ibn Abi Ayyub, who was also a thoroughly reliable authority, and whose reports were relied upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim. Imam Ahmad said (2/321): “Abu ʿAbd al-Rahman narrated to us; Saʿid narrated to us: Jaʿfar ibn Rabiʿah narrated it to me through the same chain.”

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission according to the conditions of al-Bukhari and Muslim. Abu ʿAbd al-Rahman was ʿAbdullah ibn Yazid al-Makki, the Qur’an reciter, a trustworthy and distinguished narrator and one of al-Bukhari’s leading shaykhs.

Through his chain, it was also transmitted by Ibn Hibban (2/175/1001), Abu Yaʿla (11/148), and Ibn al-Sunni in The Deeds of Day and Night (306).

Al-Nasaʾi also transmitted it in his The Deeds of Day and Night (943), through another route from Saʿid, together with al-Layth and with the first addition. He said: “Wahb ibn Bayan informed us: al-Layth ibn Saʿd and Saʿid ibn Abi Ayyub narrated to us from Jaʿfar ibn Rabiʿah, through the same chain, like the hadith cited under the present heading,” and it contains the first addition.

This is a strong corroboration of the three trustworthy narrators previously mentioned regarding this addition. It would have been more appropriate to mention it immediately after them, but such was the decree.

Its chain of transmission is authentic. All its narrators are trustworthy and were relied upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim, except Wahb ibn Bayan, who was himself trustworthy.