That is what he said! Yet he was not alone in narrating it—although he was trustworthy—for Muhammad ibn al-Muṣaffāʾ corroborated him in Ibn Abi Hatim’s work. However, he is considered weak. Al-Hafiz said:

“Truthful, but prone to errors, and he practised tadlīs (concealing an intermediary in transmission).”

I say: He explicitly stated that he heard it directly, but he did not mention Muhammad ibn Qays al-Asadi in his chain of transmission. Perhaps this was one of his errors. In any case, the chain is sound and good; all its narrators are trustworthy except Muʿawiyah ibn Hafs—al-Shaʿbi al-Halabi—whom al-Hafiz described as:

“Truthful.”

For this reason, al-Haythami said:

“Al-Tabarani narrated it in al-Awsat, and its chain is good.”

Second: Ibn Abi Hatim said: Abu Saʿid al-Ashajj narrated to us: ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Ajlah narrated to us, from Muhammad ibn ʿAmr, from Salim, from Saʿid ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbas, with the same report as the hadith of Jabir, except that he did not mention, “then from Tujib.”

Its chain is sound and good. Muhammad ibn ʿAmr is Ibn ʿAlqamah al-Madani, and Salim is Salim ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar. Something similar has also been reported from his father, as follows:

Third: Al-Bukhari recorded in his Tarikh, from al-Qasim ibn Mukhaymirah, who said:

I came to Ibn ʿUmar, and he welcomed me. He then recited: “Whoever among you turns back from his religion, Allah will bring forth a people whom He loves,” then patted my shoulder and said:

“By Allah, I swear that they are from among you, people of Yemen,” repeating this three times.

Al-Suyuti mentioned it in al-Durr al-Manthur (2/292).