I say: This is a sound chain of transmission; all its narrators are trustworthy and well known, apart from al-Mughīrah, who was Ibn Ḥabīb Abū Ṣāliḥ al-Azdī. Al-Dhahabī mentioned him in The Balance because of al-Azdī’s statement concerning him: “Rejected in hadith.” Ibn Ḥibbān listed him in The Trustworthy Narrators and said: “He narrates from Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh and Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, while Hishām al-Dastuwāʾī and the people of Basra narrate from him; he relates singular reports.”

I say: Ibn Abī Ḥātim also mentioned him (4/1/220/991), adding Ḥammād ibn Zayd, Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān, Ṣāliḥ al-Murrī, and Bishr ibn al-Mufaḍḍal to those who narrated from him. He did not mention any criticism or commendation of him.

I say: A narrator of his standing is one whose hadith one can feel reassured about, since this group of trustworthy narrators reported from him and he is not known for anything that would discredit his hadith. As for al-Azdī’s statement, “Rejected in hadith,” it is not to be given any attention, for he is known for undue severity in criticism. Perhaps it was for this reason that al-Dhahabī did not mention him in his other book, Weak Narrators, or in its supplement. And Allah knows best.

Ibrāhīm ibn Adham also corroborated him: Mālik ibn Dīnār narrated it to us through the same chain.

Abū Nuʿaym recorded it in The Adornment of the Saints (8/43–44) and said: “It is well-known among the narrations of Mālik from Anas, but singular among the narrations of Ibrāhīm from him.”

I say: He was a trustworthy, well-known ascetic. A group of leading scholars, such as Ibn Maʿīn and others, declared him trustworthy. Thus, this is a strong corroboration for al-Mughīrah, and the hadith thereby becomes authentic. All praise is due to Allah for His enabling grace.

The second is through ʿAlī ibn Zayd ibn Judʿān from him, with similar wording. It was recorded by ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak in Asceticism (folio 192/1 of The Stars), Aḥmad (3/120, 180, 231, 239), Abū Yaʿlā (191/1–2 and 2), and al-Khaṭīb in