to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) when it was revealed. Thereafter, he strove for the Hereafter more intensely than ever before, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

“Victory has come, Allah’s help has come, and the people of Yemen have come.”

A man asked, “Messenger of Allah, who are the people of Yemen?” He replied:

“They are a people tender and gentle of heart. Faith is Yemeni, wisdom is Yemeni, and religious understanding is Yemeni.”

Al-Nasa’i recorded it in al-Sunan al-Kubra (6/525/11712), as did al-Tabarani in al-Muʿjam al-Kabir (11/328–329) and al-Muʿjam al-Awsat (3/15/2017).

Ahmad also narrated its opening portion (1/217) through ʿAta’, from Saʿid, from Ibn ʿAbbas. Al-Haythami said afterward (7/144):

“Ahmad and al-Tabarani narrated it in a lengthy hadith. Its chain contains Hilal ibn Khabbab. Yahya said: ‘Trustworthy and reliable; he did not change.’ Ibn Hibban also declared him trustworthy, though there is some weakness in him. The rest of its narrators are narrators of the Sahih. Ahmad’s chain contains ʿAta’ ibn al-Sa’ib, who became confused in his later years.”

As for the hadith of Hilal ibn Khabbab, its chain of transmission is good. Al-Dhahabi said in al-Kashif: “Trustworthy.”

Closer to the mark, however, is the judgment of al-Hafiz in al-Taqrib:

“Truthful, but changed in his later years.”

For this reason, he made no comment on the hadith in Fath al-Bari (8/100), though he attributed it to al-Bazzar.

Third: it is a corroborating report for Hilal ibn Khabbab, through ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abi Bashir, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbas, who said: