by way of Qays ibn al-Rabīʿ, from him, from ʿAṭāʾ, from ʿĀʾishah, with the same wording, except for the phrase:

“...seeking thereby neither ostentation nor reputation.”

He said:

“No one narrated it from ʿAṭāʾ except Kathīr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān.”

That is what he said! Yet this contradicts both his earlier narration and his subsequent statement that al-Muthannā corroborated Kathīr in this report.

Qays ibn al-Rabīʿ is weak; however, he was corroborated by ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā, who said: “Kathīr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated it to us,” adding:

I said, “O Messenger of Allah, what about these mosques along the road to Mecca?” He replied: “Those as well.”

Al-Bukhārī recorded it in al-Tārīkh (1/1/332), though he did not mention the addition; as did al-Bazzār in his Musnad (1/205/404), al-ʿUqaylī in al-Ḍuʿafāʾ (4/3/1554), al-Bayhaqī in al-Shuʿab (3/81/2939), and al-Ṭaḥāwī in Mushkil al-Athār (4/13/1556).

Two others also narrated it in corroboration of him, as recorded by Ibn Abī Shaybah (1/310). Al-ʿUqaylī said:

“Kathīr is not corroborated in this. This is narrated through another chain of transmission, one sounder than this.”

I say: He means without this addition, and also without the addition concerning “ostentation.” It is narrated from a number of Companions, including ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, may Allah be pleased with him. His hadith is recorded by al-Bukhārī and Muslim and others, and is documented along with other reports in al-Rawḍ al-Naḍīr (883, 953, and 954). Its wording is:

“Whoever builds a mosque for Allah, Allah will build for him a house in Paradise.”