who presented this hadith to Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb at ʿArafah, from al-Sāʾib ibn Mālik, who heard Fuḍālah say:

“A man approached and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless you, what deed is closest to jihad?’ He replied: ...” and he then cited the report.

I say: This chain of transmission is good; all its narrators are trustworthy. The criticism concerning Sālim ibn Ghaylān is not detrimental. For this reason, al-Dhahabī said in al-Kāshif:

“Truthful.”

Ibn Ḥibbān included his reports in his Ṣaḥīḥ after having declared him trustworthy in al-Thiqāt.

3939—“I have been given what no prophet has been given.” We said, “O Messenger of Allah, what is it?” He said:

“I have been aided by awe; I have been given the keys of the earth; I have been named Aḥmad; the earth has been made a means of purification for me; and my community has been made the best of communities.”

Aḥmad recorded it (1/98), as did al-Bayhaqī in al-Sunan (1/213–214), through the route of Zuhayr, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAqīl, from Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī, who heard ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib say: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: ... and he then cited the report.

I say: This chain of transmission is good, due to the well-known difference of opinion concerning Ibn ʿAqīl.

Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī is Ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah, a well-known trustworthy narrator whose reports appear in both Ṣaḥīḥ collections.

Zuhayr is Zuhayr ibn Muḥammad al-Tamīmī, Abū al-Mundhir al-Khurāsānī, and he is unobjectionable except in—