I say: This is a good chain of transmission; all its narrators are trustworthy. There is well-known criticism concerning al-Qāsim—namely, Ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān of Damascus, the companion of Abū Umāmah—yet his hadith are good.

As for ʿUtbah ibn Ḥumayd, Aḥmad said:

“Weak; he is not strong, and people did not seek out his hadith.”

Abū Ḥātim said:

“Sound in hadith.”

Ibn Ḥibbān included him in al-Thiqāt (The Reliable Narrators) (7/272). Thus, a narrator such as him does not fall below the rank of good, especially since Aḥmad’s weakening of him is unexplained criticism. Although he did find fault with his hadith, what was the reason? Ibn Ḥibbān authenticated two hadith of his: one of them was corroborated in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and elsewhere, while the documentation of the other has preceded in the second volume of this series, no. 789. Al-Mundhirī indicated that the hadith is strengthened in al-Targhīb (2/34/3), by introducing it with the words:

“On the authority of Abū Umāmah ...”

and by judging this ʿUtbah’s standing to be good.

The hadith also has a supporting report from Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, with an additional wording at its end. Ibn Mājah and others recorded it, but its chain of transmission is very weak; therefore, I documented it in al-Ḍaʿīfah (3637). *

3408—(Make the pre-dawn meal your breakfast, for it is the blessed breakfast.)

Recorded by al-Nasāʾī (1/304), and in al-Kubrā (2/79/2474), Aḥmad (4/132), al-Ṭabarānī in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (20/271/641), and Musnad al-Shāmiyyīn