I had previously documented the hadith under this heading, in similar wording, in al-Ḍaʿīfah (647), through two routes, the first of which is better than the other. I mentioned that al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr stated definitively that it was attributable to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and that perhaps he had come across another route, or other routes, by which it was strengthened; in that case, they ought to be examined. I have now come across this route and hastened to document it, in fulfilment of what I said there. Apparently, it is among the routes whose combined weight convinced al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr that the hadith was established from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, leading him to attribute it to him definitively. This same conclusion came to my mind when I found this route, which, as has preceded, is sound due to corroboration, at the very least; it is therefore strengthened by the first route referred to above.

I then found another mursal route for it, related by Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār: Yūnus ibn Bukayr narrated to us, from Mālik ibn Mighwal, from Ṭalḥah, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“When shall I meet my brethren?”

They said: “Messenger of Allah, are we not your brethren?” He said:

“You are my Companions. My brethren are people from among my nation who have not seen me, yet believe in me and affirm me.”

Then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to them:

“Which of all creatures has the most remarkable faith? ...” the hadith.

Al-Bayhaqī narrated it in Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah (6/538) and said:

“This is mursal.”

He then cited it through the first route documented there, and said:

“It was also related, with a connected chain, from Saʿīd ibn Bashīr, from Qatādah, from Anas.”