al-Khudri, who said: The Messenger of Allah said it. Al-Hakim said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” Al-Dhahabi concurred.

I say: All of its narrators are known and reliable, except for Sa‘d’s aunt, whose name was Zaynab bint Ka‘b ibn ‘Ujrah. Her two nephews—the aforementioned Sa‘d ibn Ishaq and Sulayman ibn Muhammad, whose fathers were sons of Ka‘b ibn ‘Ujrah—narrated from her. Ibn Hibban mentioned her in al-Thiqat (Reliable Narrators), and she was the wife of Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri. Ibn al-Athir and Ibn Fathun also mentioned her among the Companions. Ibn Hazm, however, described her as “unknown,” as cited by al-Dhahabi in al-Mizan, and al-Dhahabi endorsed this judgment—yet he nevertheless agreed with al-Hakim in declaring the report authentic!

308 — “O Allah, let me live as a poor man, cause me to die as a poor man, and gather me among the company of the poor.”

It was recorded by ‘Abd ibn Humayd in al-Muntakhab min al-Musnad (Selections from al-Musnad) (110/2), who said: Ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to me: Waki‘ narrated to us, from Hammam, from Qatadah, from Abu ‘Isa al-Aswari, from Abu Sa‘id, who said: “Love the poor, for I heard the Messenger of Allah say in his supplication”—and he then mentioned it.

I say: In my view, this is a good chain of transmission. All its narrators are reliable and are narrators of the two Sahihs, apart from Abu ‘Isa al-Aswari. Al-Tabarani declared him reliable, and Ibn Hibban included him in al-Thiqat (Reliable Narrators) (1/271). Three people narrated from him, one of whom was Qatadah; hence al-Bazzar said: “He is well-known.”

The statement of anyone who says that he was “unknown” or that “none besides Qatadah narrated from him” is limited to that person’s knowledge; and above every person of knowledge is one more knowing. Indeed, al-Tahdhib states categorically that Thabit al-Bunani, Qatadah, and ‘Asim al-Ahwal narrated from him.

I say: All of these are reliable; thus, the uncertainty concerning his identity is removed by them, and the uncertainty concerning his status is eliminated through the declarations of reliability we have mentioned, if Allah Most High wills—especially since he was a Successor. Some hadith scholars, such as Ibn Rajab and Ibn Kathir, hold that the hadith of a concealed Successor is good, whereas this case is clearly stronger than that of a concealed narrator.

The hadith also has another route from Abu Sa‘id, as well as corroborating reports from Anas ibn Malik, ‘Ubadah ibn al-Samit, and Ibn ‘Abbas. I traced all of them in Irwa’ al-Ghalil (Quenching the Thirst), no. 853. I chose to cite this route here because, despite the soundness of its chain, it is rare and was not mentioned by any of those who discussed the various routes of the hadith, such as Ibn al-Jawzi, Ibn al-Mulaqqin in al-Khulasah (The Epitome), Ibn Hajar in al-Talkhis (The Abridgment), al-Suyuti in al-La’ali (The Pearls), and others. There is no doubt that, taken together, the hadith’s various routes rise to the level of authenticity. For this reason, the scholars reproached Ibn al-Jawzi for including it in al-Mawdu‘at (Fabricated Hadiths), and al-Hafiz said in