Wāṣil ibn Ayyūb al-Asāwarī, from Abū Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, as a report attributed to the Companion.
I have not found anyone who mentions this al-Asāwarī, not even al-Samʿānī under this nisbah.
Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Mundhirī likewise indicated that it is strengthened in al-Targhīb (1/109/14), by introducing it with the words, “And from …,” and by remaining silent about—or approving—the authentication of al-Ḥākim and Ibn Shāhīn. He also cited in support of it a report from Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, which I have traced in the other book under no. 5038, explaining its weakness and al-Haythamī’s identification of its defect. As for this report, he said of it (1/327):
“Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it in al-Kabīr, as did al-Bazzār. Its narrators have been declared trustworthy, but it is defective.”
I say: He is referring to the disagreement over whether it is attributed to the Prophet or attributed to the Companion, as well as to the question of Ibrāhīm al-Saksakī’s trustworthiness. I have examined all of this in detail, clarifying—Allah willing—what is correct and what is mistaken.
On this occasion, I must also say a word concerning this hadith and the jurisprudential lessons it contains. I say:
It is well known to the people of knowledge that the call to prayer is one of Islam’s rites, and that many well-known hadiths concerning its merit have been recorded in the authentic collections, the Sunan works, and elsewhere. I have singled this report out from among them for two reasons:
The first is to investigate its chain of transmission and examine those who declared it authentic: were they correct or mistaken? Then to judge it according to what the scholarly principles of hadith criticism require—whether sound, good, or weak. I have done so, hoping that Allah Most High has enabled me to arrive at the correct conclusion that pleases Him, Mighty and Majestic.
The other is to remind people of the contempt, neglect, lack of concern, and suspension that have afflicted this Islamic rite in certain mosques, where the call to prayer ought to be given by their muezzins,