3296 — “Had he done so”—meaning Abu Jahl—“the angels would have seized him in plain sight; and had the Jews wished for death, they would have died.”

It was narrated by al-Bazzar (3/40/2189)—the wording is his—and by Ibn Jarir (1/336 and 30/165), through Zakariyya ibn ʿAdi: Ubayd Allah ibn ʿAmr narrated to us from ʿAbd al-Karim, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbas, who said:

Abu Jahl said, “If I see Muhammad, I shall certainly trample on his neck.” He was told, “There he is.” He said, “I do not see him.” The Messenger of Allah then said: … and he cited it.

I say: Zakariyya ibn ʿAdi is trustworthy and among Muslim’s narrators, while those above him are trustworthy narrators of both al-Bukhari and Muslim. Thus, the chain of transmission is authentic.

Ahmad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik corroborated him: Ubayd Allah narrated to us through the same chain.

Ahmad recorded it (1/248), but did not give its wording in full; rather, he referred to the wording of the preceding report, which is narrated by Furat ibn Salman and comes next. Perhaps for this reason it escaped al-Haythami, who did not attribute it to Ahmad and said (6/314):

“It was narrated by al-Bazzar, and its narrators are those of the authentic collections.”

In al-Fath (8/724), al-Hafiz attributed it to Ibn Mardawayh with wording similar to that of al-Bazzar, adding after the words, “they would have died”:

“and they would have seen their places in the Fire.”

As for Furat’s corroborating narration, Ahmad said: Ismaʿil ibn Yazid al-Raqqi, Abu Yazid, narrated to us; Furat narrated from ʿAbd al-Karim (the original reads: Ibn ʿAbd al-Karim), through the same chain. Its wording is: