and by Ahmad (1/242 and 345) and al-Tabarani in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (The Great Lexicon) (12/152/12736), through several chains, one of them being: Wakiʿ from Sufyan, from Salamah ibn Kuhayl, from ʿImran ibn al-Hakam—or, in another version, Abu al-Hakam—al-Sulami, from Ibn ʿAbbas, who said: … and he then cited it. Al-Hakim said:

“Authentic and reliably preserved, from the narration of al-Thawri from Salamah ibn Kuhayl.”

It is as he said. Its narrators are trustworthy and are narrators found in the two Sahih collections, with the exception of ʿImran Abu al-Hakam al-Sulami—the latter being the correct form of the two versions—who is among Muslim’s narrators. It seems that al-Hakim overlooked this, for in the second place he merely said:

“Its chain of transmission is authentic!”

Al-Dhahabi agreed with him.

The correct ruling is that it is authentic according to Muslim’s criteria. Al-Mundhiri indicated this when he said in al-Targhib (4/75/12):

“Al-Tabarani narrated it, and its transmitters are transmitters of the Sahih collections.”

Al-Haythami said likewise in al-Majmaʿ (10/196).

Both of them overlooked attributing it to Ahmad—not to mention al-Hakim. This accords with al-Mundhiri’s method, but not al-Haythami’s, as is clear to those familiar with their books and their respective methodologies in them.

Al-Bazzar also narrated the hadith in his Musnad (3/55/2224—Kashf al-Astar), saying: Abu Hisham Muhammad ibn Yazid al-Rifaʿi narrated to us: Wakiʿ narrated to us: Sufyan narrated to us … through the previously cited chain, but with the wording:

“The people of Mecca asked the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, to turn al-Safa into gold for them and to remove the mountains from around them so that they could cultivate the land. It was then said: ‘If you wish, We shall give them what they have asked for; but if they disbelieve, they will be destroyed as …’”