He asked, “How many generations were there between him and Noah?” He replied, “Ten generations.”

He asked, “How many generations were there between Noah and Abraham?” He replied, “Ten generations.”

They asked, “O Messenger of Allah, how many messengers were there?” He replied, “Three hundred and fifteen—a vast multitude.”

Al-Ḥākim—whose wording this is—said: “Authentic according to Muslim’s criteria.” Al-Dhahabī concurred with him.

Al-Ṭabarānī said: “Muʿāwiyah ibn Salām alone narrated it.”

I say: He is trustworthy and among Muslim’s narrators, as al-Ḥākim indicated. Al-Haythamī (8/210) said: “Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it, and its narrators are narrators of the Ṣaḥīḥ collections, apart from Aḥmad ibn Khalīd al-Ḥalabī, who is trustworthy.”

I say: He was among those from whom al-Ṭabarānī narrated extensively in al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ, relating from him eighty hadiths therein (388–468). Ibn Ḥibbān included him in al-Thiqāt (8/53), and al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī said of him in al-Siyar (13/489): “I know of nothing objectionable about him.”