except through Allah. We ask Allah Most High to protect us from the tribulations of this age and the evils of its people.

I then saw that the hadith master Ibrahim al-Naji pointed out in ʿUjālat al-Imlāʾ (folio 1/205) that al-Mundhiri’s statement cited above—that al-Hakim narrated it from Abu Hurayrah, from Ibn Amr—was mistaken, since there is no mention whatsoever of Abu Hurayrah in al-Hakim’s chain of transmission. It is quite evident that he meant the first route, which contains Shahr, and that he had not come across the other route, for it is narrated by Abu Hurayrah from Ibn Amr—may Allah be pleased with them.

Part of the negligence, ignorance, and blind imitation of the three annotators of al-Targhib is that, although they attributed the hadith to al-Hakim (3/642), citing the page number on which the other route appears, they nevertheless declared the hadith weak and identified Shahr ibn Hawshab as its defect! *

3204—“When one of you wishes to ask, let him begin by praising and extolling Allah as He deserves; then let him invoke blessings upon the Prophet; then let him ask, for this makes success more likely.”

Attributed to a Companion, but carrying the ruling of being attributed to the Prophet: Abd al-Razzaq transmitted it in al-Musannaf (1/441/19642), and through his route al-Tabarani in al-Muʿjam al-Kabir (9/170/8780), from Maʿmar, from Abu Ishaq, from Abu Ubaydah ibn Abd Allah ibn Masʿud, from Ibn Masʿud, who said: … and he then cited it.

I say: This chain of transmission is weak, due to the break between Abu Ubaydah and his father. Al-Haythami said in al-Majmaʿ (10/155):

“Al-Tabarani transmitted it, and its narrators are those of the authentic collections, except that Abu Ubaydah did not hear from his father.”

I say: Thus, his statement (10/160), “It is a good hadith”—