he said: “Al-Ḥakam ibn Nāfiʿ narrated to us: Ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated to us, from Buḥayr ibn Saʿd, from Khālid ibn Maʿdān, from Kathīr ibn Murrah, from ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, to the same effect.”

Al-Mundhirī said:

“Aḥmad and al-Ṭabarānī narrated it, and Aḥmad’s chain of transmission is good.”

Al-Haythamī said (5/293):

“Aḥmad narrated it in this manner, saying, ‘to the same effect’; whereas al-Bazzār and al-Ṭabarānī narrated, ‘seven distinctions.’ And they are indeed seven. The narrators of Aḥmad and al-Ṭabarānī are reliable.”

I say: The hadith of al-Miqdām is more preponderant in my view, for it is the version transmitted by the majority from Ibn ʿAyyāsh. And Allah knows best.

There is also a discrepancy in the chain of transmission ascribed to Kathīr ibn Murrah. Aḥmad (4/200) said: Zayd ibn Yaḥyā al-Dimashqī narrated to us; he said: Ibn Thawbān narrated to us, from his father, from Makhūl, from Kathīr ibn Murrah, from Qays al-Judhāmī—a man who was a Companion—who said: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“The martyr is granted six distinctions at the first drop of his blood …” the hadith.

I say: He mentioned distinctions (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6), though in a different order.

Al-Haythamī said:

“Aḥmad narrated it, and its chain includes ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Thābit ibn Thawbān. Abū Ḥātim and a number of others declared him reliable, while another group considered him weak.”

I say: Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim also narrated it in al-Jihād (folio 91/1–2), through the hadith of al-Miqdām and through the hadith of Qays al-Judhāmī. Ibn Saʿd likewise transmitted it in al-Ṭabaqāt (7/426–427), as did al-Bukhārī in al-Tārīkh (4/1/143–144), through Aḥmad’s chain of transmission.