It was narrated by Muhammad ibn ʿAsim al-Thaqafi al-Isfahani in his Juzʾ (95/19), and through his route by al-Dhahabi in al-Siyar (9/528) and al-Bayhaqi in Dalaʾil al-Nubuwwah (2/480), in abbreviated form, through two chains from him.

I say: With this wording, it is an anomalous, singular report, for Israʾil alone narrated it and contradicted those trustworthy narrators. Although he was trustworthy and among the narrators relied upon by the two Sahih collections, more than one scholar criticized his retention. One of the two routes mentioned is that of Yahya ibn Adam, the trustworthy imam and jurist. In Israʾil’s biography, Ibn ʿAdi cited Yahya as saying:

“We used to write down his reports from his memory, though he had not committed them to memory; then later he did commit them to memory.”

It appears, then, that he narrated this hadith from memory and thus erred.

This critical point escaped the annotator of al-Siyar, who merely declared its narrators trustworthy. Perhaps something about it gave him pause, and for that reason he did not venture to authenticate its chain of transmission. He says there:

“Al-Zurqani attributed it in Sharh al-Mawahib (1/336) to Ibn Mardawayh.”

I say: I believe that he narrated it through the route of Ibn ʿAsim al-Thaqafi.

Al-Zurqani also mentioned there that the verse was composed by al-Siddiq, and that the Chosen Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—quoted it.

I say: As for its having been composed by Abu Bakr, there is no evidence for that, even if the account were assumed to be authentic—and you have already seen that it is anomalous. For just as it is possible that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—was merely quoting it, the same is possible in Abu Bakr’s case, especially since it has been said that it was composed by al-Walid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah during the account of al-Hudaybiyyah.

As for the Chosen Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—having quoted it, that is possible, but it is not necessary, for it is possible that