But this chain of transmission is also weak: apart from Rāshid, the other three are weak. Yet al-Haythamī declared it defective only on account of Jubārah! (3/151).

It has a strong supporting report, narrated by Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm—the brother of Abū Maʿmar—who said: Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah narrated to us, from Ibrāhīm ibn Maysarah, from Ṭāwūs, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said:

ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb sent for me, inviting me to the pre-dawn meal, and said:

“The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, called it the blessed breakfast.”

Al-Ṭabarānī recorded it in al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ (2/308/505), and al-Khaṭīb narrated it through him in al-Tārīkh (1/387). Al-Ṭabarānī said:

“We know of no one who narrated it from Ibn ʿUyaynah other than Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm, the brother of Abū Maʿmar.”

I say: Al-Khaṭīb narrated through his chain that Ibn Maʿīn was asked about him, and he replied:

“One like Abū Maʿmar is not to be questioned about; he and his brother are among the people of hadith.”

Mūsā ibn Hārūn said of him:

“He is truthful; there is no objection to him.”

I say: The remainder of its narrators are narrators of the Ṣaḥīḥ collections, as al-Haythamī said (3/151), except for al-Ṭabarānī’s shaykh, Aḥmad ibn al-Qāsim ibn Musāwir al-Jawharī, who is trustworthy.

There is another supporting report, from the hadith of ʿĀʾishah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“Bring us the blessed breakfast,” meaning the pre-dawn meal; and at times it consisted of no more than two dates.

Al-Zuhrī said: “The pre-dawn meal is a sunnah.”