- “O Shaddād ibn Aws! When you see people amassing gold and silver, then frequently recite these words:
‘O Allah, I ask You for steadfastness in the matter, and determination upon right guidance. I ask You for that which brings about Your mercy, and for the means of attaining Your forgiveness. I ask You for gratitude for Your blessing and for excellence in worshipping You. I ask You for a sound heart and a truthful tongue. I ask You for the good that You know, and I seek refuge in You from the evil that You know. I seek Your forgiveness for what You know; indeed, You are the All-Knower of the unseen.’”
Al-Ṭabarānī transmitted it in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (7/335–336), and through his route Abū Nuʿaym in al-Ḥilyah (1/266). Likewise, Ibn ʿAsākir transmitted it in Tārīkh Dimashq (16/127), through two routes from Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Raḥabī narrated to me, from Abū al-Ashʿath al-Ṣanʿānī, from Shaddād ibn Aws, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said to me: … and he cited it.
I say: This is a good chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy, though there is some disagreement concerning some of them which does no harm:
- Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān: he was the son of Shuraḥbīl’s daughter, Abū Ayyūb al-Dimashqī. Al-Dhahabī said in al-Kāshif:
“A trustworthy mufti, but he narrated extensively from weak narrators.”
-
Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh: trustworthy in his narrations from the people of al-Shām, and this is one of them, as will follow.
-
Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Raḥabī: a Damascene. He has a biographical notice in Ibn ʿAsākir’s Tārīkh Dimashq (16/127), where he noted that five others besides Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh also narrated from him,