3345—“Seventy thousand angels descended at the death of Sa‘d ibn Mu‘adh; they had never set foot upon the earth before then. When he was buried, he said: ‘Glory be to Allah! Had anyone been able to escape the compression of the grave, Sa‘d would have escaped it. [Yet it compressed him once, then released him.]’”

Al-Bazzar recorded it (3/256/2698, Kashf al-Astar) through Abu ‘Attab: Miskin ibn ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Khattab narrated to us; Nafi‘ informed me, from Ibn ‘Umar, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: ... and he mentioned it.

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. Its narrators are known and trustworthy, apart from this Miskin. Al-Bukhari mentioned him in al-Tarikh, through his narration from Bard ibn Sinan, and said:

“He is counted among the Basrans. Muhammad ibn Rumi and Bishr ibn al-Hakam narrated from him.”

He made no further comment about him. Ibn Abi Hatim gave his biography (4/1/329), citing five other trustworthy narrators who transmitted from him, and said:

“I asked my father about him, and he replied: ‘Miskin Abu Fatimah’s standing was weakened by this hadith—the hadith of Abu Umamah concerning bathing on Friday.’”

I say: This is a mild weakening. The hadith to which he referred was narrated by Abu Fatimah from Hawshab, from al-Hasan, who said: Abu Umamah used to narrate from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, ... and he mentioned it. It is recorded in al-Da‘ifah (1802). In my view, weakening him on account of this hadith is questionable, for he bears no blame in it; he is merely a transmitter. The hidden defect lies with al-Hasan—the Basran—for he did not explicitly state that he heard it, as Abu Hatim said:

“Al-Hasan’s transmission from Abu Umamah is not established.”