and I do not know him. It appears that he is al-Tamimi, who is trustworthy, and the rest of its narrators are trustworthy.”

I say: This conjecture seems far-fetched to me, for this Ibn al-Husayn belonged to the generation of Imam Ahmad, whereas al-Tamimi was from the generation following the Successors. Al-Hafiz placed him in the sixth generation, which was contemporary with the fifth generation of the younger Successors, who saw one or two of the Companions. By contrast, it has not been established that those of the sixth generation met any of them.

His statement concerning al-Tamimi—that he is trustworthy—is lenient, for no one declared him trustworthy other than Ibn Hibban, who is known for leniency in declaring narrators trustworthy. Moreover, al-Daraqutni differed with him, saying: “Unknown.” This is the judgement adopted by al-Hafiz in al-Taqrib.

In sum, this chain of transmission is weak, though not severely so; it may therefore serve as a corroborating report for the hadith of Abu Umamah, raising it to the grade of hasan (good). And Allah knows best.

274 — “I was commanded to migrate to a town that consumes other towns. They call it Yathrib, but it is al-Madinah. It expels people just as the blacksmith’s bellows expel the impurities of iron.”

It was recorded by al-Bukhari (4/69–70), Muslim (9/154), Malik (3/84–85), al-Tahawi in Mushkil al-Athar (2/232–233), Ahmad (nos. 7231, 7364), al-Khatib in al-Faqih wa al-Mutafaqqih (62/2), and Abu Ya‘la in his Musnad (300/2), on the authority of Abu Hurayrah, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say this.

In another narration through a different route from him, traced back to the Prophet, the wording is:

“A time will come upon people when a man will call his paternal cousin and his relative, saying, ‘Come to prosperity! Come to prosperity!’ Yet al-Madinah is better for them, if only they knew. By Him in whose Hand is my soul, no one leaves it out of aversion to it except that Allah replaces him there with one better than him. Indeed, al-Madinah is like the blacksmith’s bellows: it expels the wicked. The Hour will not be established until al-Madinah expels its wicked people, just as the blacksmith’s bellows expel the impurities of iron.”