3399 — “Whoever builds a mosque, seeking thereby neither ostentation nor reputation, Allah will build for him a house in Paradise.”

Al-Ṭabarānī recorded it in al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ (8/5/7001) through the chain of Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā ibn Sumayʿ, from al-Muthannā ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ, from ʿAṭāʾ, from ʿĀʾishah, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him—then he cited it. He said:

“No one narrated it from al-Muthannā except Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā; Hishām ibn ʿAmmār alone narrated it; and no one narrated it from ʿAṭāʾ, from ʿĀʾishah, except Kathīr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Kūfī and al-Muthannā ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ.”

I say: Al-Dhahabī said in al-Kāshif concerning al-Muthannā:

“Abū Ḥātim and others said: ‘His hadith is soft.’”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ said in al-Taqrīb:

“Weak; he became confused in his later years.”

I say: Thus, a narrator like him may be cited as corroborating evidence, if Allah wills. Ibn Maʿīn indicated this when he said:

“His hadith may be written down, but he is not to be abandoned.”

The same applies to the narrator from him, Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā ibn Sumayʿ. Al-Dhahabī said in al-Mughnī:

“Abū Ḥātim said: ‘He is not to be relied upon as proof.’ Ibn ʿAdī said: ‘There is no harm in him.’”

As for Hishām ibn ʿAmmār, he is trustworthy and among al-Bukhārī’s shaykhs, though there is well-known criticism concerning him.

As for Kathīr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Kūfī, whom al-Ṭabarānī mentioned as a corroborating narrator for Ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ, he is al-ʿĀmirī, the muezzin. Al-Ṭabarānī also recorded his hadith in al-Awsaṭ (7/304/6582)