Moreover, al-Suddī was corroborated by Abū Isḥāq—al-Subayʿī. Fiṭr ibn Khalīfah narrated from him, from Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Jadalī, who said:

Umm Salamah said: “O Abū ʿAbd Allāh! Is the Messenger of Allah being insulted in your midst?” I said: “And who would insult the Messenger of Allah?” She said: … and then mentioned it.

Al-Ṭabarānī recorded it in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (23/322/737).

I said: Its narrators are trustworthy, notwithstanding the well-known criticism concerning Abū Isḥāq. There is disagreement over what was narrated from him, both in its chain of transmission and its text. Some narrated it from him with the wording:

“Whoever reviles ʿAlī has reviled me, and whoever reviles me, Allah will curse him.”

With this wording, it is rejected. For this reason, I included it in al-Ḍaʿīfah (2310), where I traced its sources and critiqued those who declared it authentic. It should be consulted in its fifth volume, which was then being printed and would soon be available to readers, if Allah Most High wills. It has now been published, praise and favor be to Allah.

The hadiths concerning the Prophet’s great love for ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, are very numerous. The most authentic of them is the hadith about his giving him the banner on the Day of Khaybar and saying:

“I shall certainly give this banner to a man who loves Allah and His Messenger, and whom Allah and His Messenger love …”

It was narrated by a number of Companions and recorded by al-Bukhārī and Muslim, as well as others. I have traced some of its routes earlier (3244) and in Takhrīj al-Ṭaḥāwiyyah (484/713). *

3333—(The man of highest standing among people is one upon the back of his horse, striking fear into the enemy while they strike fear into him.)

Al-Bayhaqī recorded it in Shuʿab al-Īmān (4/42/4291): Abū Muḥammad informed us