- “Gabriel came to me in green garments adorned with pearls.”
Aḥmad (1/407) narrated it: Zayd ibn al-Ḥubāb told us; Ḥusayn told me; Ḥuṣayn told me; Shuqqayq told me that he heard Ibn Masʿūd say: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: … Then he mentioned it.
Abū al-Shaykh also narrated it in al-ʿAẓamah (2/774–475/349), as did al-Dāraquṭnī in al-Gharāʾib wa-al-Afrād (folio 224/1—al-Aṭrāf), through other routes from Zayd ibn al-Ḥubāb with this chain. Al-Dāraquṭnī said:
“It was uniquely narrated by al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid, from whom Zayd ibn al-Ḥubāb and others narrated it; and through al-Ḥusayn, from ʿĀṣim.”
I say: This is a good chain of transmission, as al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr said in his Exegesis (4/251). Its narrators are trustworthy and are among Muslim’s narrators. Although some of them have been criticised, this does not lower the hadith below the rank of good. As for Shaykh Aḥmad Shākir, may Allah have mercy on him, he said (5/330):
“Its chain of transmission is authentic!”
Our esteemed brother Raḍī al-Mubārakpūrī, in his annotations on al-ʿAẓamah, considered it defective, saying:
“It includes Ḥuṣayn ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, who was trustworthy, but whose memory changed in later life; and Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid is not mentioned among those who heard from him before that change.”
I say: A narrator whose memory changed is not placed in the same category as one who became confused, nor, to my knowledge, is he treated in the same manner by the scholars in their hadith documentation and authentication. They regard his hadith as strong, because such change is less serious than confusion. Thus, at the very least, his hadith is good—especially when it is corroborated, as will follow.