“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, appointed a man to lead a military detachment. When he had gone out and returned to him, he asked, ‘How did you find authority?’

“He replied, ‘I was merely like one of the men: whenever I mounted, they mounted, and whenever I dismounted, they dismounted.’ The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, then said …” and he cited the hadith.

“The man said, ‘By Allah, I shall never hold office for you or for anyone else.’ The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, laughed until his molars became visible.”

I say: This is a sound chain of transmission. Al-Haythami, however, deemed it defective, saying (5/201):

“Al-Tabarani narrated it, and it contains ʿAtaʾ ibn al-Saʾib, who became confused in his later years; the rest of its transmitters are trustworthy.”

The annotator endorsed this assessment as well.

I say: It seems that he overlooked the fact that it is narrated through Sufyan—that is, al-Thawri—who was among those who heard from him before his confusion.

The hadith is further corroborated by what Suwwar Abu Hamzah narrated from Thabit, from Anas:

“The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, appointed al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad over a cavalry detachment. When he returned, he asked him, ‘What did you observe?’

“He replied, ‘I saw them elevating and lowering me, until I thought I was no longer the same person!’

“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘That is precisely it.’

“Al-Miqdad said, ‘By Him Who sent you with the truth, I shall never accept any office.’ Thereafter, they would say to him, ‘Come forward and lead us in prayer,’ but he would refuse.”