3570—“This Ramadan has come to you: the gates of Paradise are opened therein, the gates of Hell are closed therein, and the devils are chained therein.”

Al-Nasa’i recorded it (1/296), as did Ahmad (3/236), through the route of Ibn Ishaq, who said: Muhammad ibn Muslim mentioned, from Uways ibn Abi Uways—an ally of Banu Taym—from Anas ibn Malik, that the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said … and he cited it. Al-Nasa’i said:

“This hadith is erroneous.”

I say: That is, its chain of transmission. Abu Hatim clarified this when his son asked him about it in al-‘Ilal (1/240/700), and he replied:

“This is an error. It is only from al-Zuhri, from Ibn Abi Anas, from his father, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him.”

Ibn Abi Hatim said: “Ibn Ishaq then narrated, immediately after this hadith, from al-Zuhri, who said: ‘Ibn Abi Anas told me that he heard Abu Hurayrah narrating from the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—something similar to it.’” My father said: “This too is: Ibn Abi Anas, from his father, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him.”

I say: In summary, the hadith is the hadith of Abu Hurayrah—not Anas—and it is from Ibn Abi Anas, from his father, from him. This is how the two Shaykhs and others recorded it through various routes from Ibn Shihab with this chain. It was previously cited under no. 1307, along with another route from Abu Hurayrah.

This discrepancy on the part of Ibn Ishaq is not unusual, for the hadith masters knew that there was some deficiency in his retention. For this reason, neither of the two Shaykhs included reports from him, except that Muslim included him in corroborative routes. Added to this is that he was described as practicing concealment in transmission. Thus, both defects are present here: besides the discrepancy mentioned above, he did not explicitly state that he heard the report directly; rather, he cited it in a suspended and disconnected form! He also narrated this hadith through another chain, with an addition to the text of the hadith, saying: