and the rest of its narrators have been declared trustworthy, despite some weakness in some of them.”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ attributed the hadith under discussion in al-Fatḥ (5/101) to al-Tirmidhī, and made no comment on it, thereby indicating that he considered it established. Perhaps this was due to the corroborating report I mentioned. Allah knows best. *

3266—“The Hour will not come until people are rained upon with a rain from which mud-brick houses will afford no shelter, and nothing but tents of haircloth will provide shelter.”

Aḥmad transmitted it (2/262): “Abū Kāmil and ʿAffān narrated to us. They said: Ḥammād narrated to us from Suhayl”—ʿAffān said in his version, “Suhayl informed us”—“ibn Abī Ṣāliḥ, from his father, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: ...” Then he cited it.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission according to Muslim’s criteria.

Ibn Ḥibbān also transmitted it in his Ṣaḥīḥ (8/270/6732—al-Iḥsān) through the route of Abū Yaʿlā, who said: “Bassām ibn Yazīd al-Naqqāl narrated to us: Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated to us,” with the same chain.

I say: Bassām al-Naqqāl was mentioned by Ibn Ḥibbān in al-Thiqāt (8/155), where he said: “The people of Iraq narrated from him.”

I say: Among them were al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Baghawī and others, as recorded in Tārīkh Baghdād (7/127). Al-Azdī is also reported to have said: “The people of Iraq speak critically of him.”

Al-Dhahabī then remarked: “He is of middling reliability as a narrator.”