three phrases; he also added the name “Ḥannān” (“the Most Affectionate”), and omitted the phrase: “You alone, without partner.” There is no basis for the name mentioned except in one report of Aḥmad, through the chain of Khalaf (3/158); and I believe this too to be an error by one of the copyists or narrators. For in his other report (3/245), it is: “al-Mannān” (“the Ever-Bountiful Giver”), which is the established wording in the narrations of Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī, al-Ṭaḥāwī, Ibn Ḥibbān, and al-Ḥākim, and is supported by the hadith under discussion.

I believe that what occurs in al-Targhīb is partly a conflation of different narrations by the author himself—as was his habit in that work!—and partly the work of copyists. The three annotators of it (2/481) did not notice this confusion, and so failed to point it out, as the critical editing they claimed for their new edition of al-Targhīb required. Rather, they compounded the confusion themselves: in place of the words, “I asked Allah”—the established wording in Musnad Aḥmad and elsewhere—they inserted: “[He invoked Allah],” placing it thus within brackets, and commented: “It is not found in (B)!”

I say: This is a feeble comment. Besides this addition contradicting the narration in al-Musnad, it implies that the text upon which they based their edition contains an omission, and that it reads: “Indeed ... by His Greatest Name ...” This is neither conceivable nor intelligible! They should have explained what occurs in manuscript (B)—but that is the full extent of their knowledge and their alleged critical editing!

To add insult to injury, they attributed the hadith to Aḥmad (5/349 and 360), whereas it is in the third volume, as stated above.

After writing the foregoing, I returned to al-Iḥsān fī Taqrīb Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān in both its editions, and found in the hadith of Khalaf: