hadith, and that these scholars are unanimously agreed upon following the pious predecessors in believing in the realities of the divine attributes that befit Him, exalted is He: affirmation without likening, and transcendence without negation of attributes: “There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.” (al-Shura 42:11)

Know that the uncertainty mentioned in the hadith—whether the wording is “laughter” or “wonder”—does not detract from the sound establishment of either, for each is reported in numerous hadiths in various contexts in the books of the sunnah, especially those dealing with oneness of God and creed, such as al-Sunnah by Ibn Abi Asim, al-Tawhid by Ibn Khuzaymah, and al-Shariʿah by al-Ajurri. I have documented some of them in Zilal al-Jannah (569–573), al-Sahihah (755, 1074, and 3129), Sahih Abi Dawud (2401), and elsewhere.

3273—“No two men love one another for Allah’s sake, out of one another’s sight, except that the one more beloved to Allah is the one whose love for his companion is stronger.”

Al-Tabarani transmitted it in al-Muʿjam al-Awsat (2/21/2/5412) (6/134/5275—T): Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al-Baraʾ narrated to us: al-Muʿafa ibn Sulayman narrated to us: Musa ibn Aʿyan narrated to us, from Jaʿfar ibn Burqan, from Muhammad ibn Suqah, from Talhah ibn ʿUbayd Allah ibn Kurayz—who was a companion of Umm al-Dardaʾ—who related the hadith from Umm al-Dardaʾ; Umm al-Dardaʾ related it from Abu al-Dardaʾ, and Abu al-Dardaʾ attributed it to the Prophet … Then he mentioned it. He said:

“No one narrated it from Jaʿfar ibn Burqan except Musa ibn Aʿyan.”

I say: both of them are trustworthy narrators included among the narrators of Sahih, as are all the remaining narrators; they are among the narrators of al-Tahdhib, apart from Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al-Baraʾ, who was among al-Tabarani’s trustworthy shaykhs. Al-Mundhiri said in al-Targhib (4/46):