For these three clauses, there is an authentic corroborating report in a hadith from Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, attributed to the Prophet. It was recorded by Muslim (6/85) and others, and is referenced in Naqd Nusus al-Kattani (p. 42).

Among the confused errors of the three annotators of al-Targhib—and their ignorance of the art of hadith documentation, let alone the science of narrator criticism and accreditation, and of authentication and declaring hadith weak—is their statement in documenting the hadith under the present heading (3/249):

“Reported by Ibn Hibban in his Sahih, al-Bayhaqi in al-Shu'ab, and al-Nasa'i (7/232), from Ali.”

I say: This contains several errors of ignorance:

First: They have confused the hadith of Ali with that of Ibn Abbas, so readers cannot tell which of the three recorded the hadith of Ali and which recorded that of Ibn Abbas.

Second: Their citing only al-Nasa'i for the hadith of Ali gives the impression that no one more deserving of citation than he recorded it. This is not so, for Muslim also recorded it, as I mentioned above.

Third: It likewise gives the impression that the hadith of Ali contains the seven clauses found in the hadith of Ibn Abbas, whereas in fact it contains only three, as previously explained.

Fourth: They turned a blind eye to documenting al-Nasa'i’s narration from Ibn Abbas, although al-Mundhiri mentioned it in his documentation of the hadith, saying (3/198/5):

“Reported by Ibn Hibban in his Sahih and al-Bayhaqi; and with al-Nasa'i, its final part is repeated.”

Fifth: They failed to note the first addition found in al-Bayhaqi, even though they attributed the hadith to him with the volume and number! How energetic they are in regurgitating what al-Mundhiri says in documenting hadiths, and repeating it