Its chain of transmission is sound. Al-Ḥākim judged it to have “a sound isnād,” and al-Dhahabī agreed. An expanded version will appear later in the source-critical discussion, along with a corroborating report for part of it (481 – 482).

(al-ḥumrah): with ḍamma on the ḥāʾ and fatḥa on the doubled mīm; a small, sparrow-like bird that is red in color.

(tafrishu): the elision of one of the two tāʾs, as in tadhakkara; it means that the bird flaps its wings and draws close to the ground.

26 – “And as for the sheep, if you show mercy to it, may Allah show mercy to you.”

Al-Bukhārī narrated it in al-Adab al-Mufrad (no. 373); al-Ṭabarānī in al-Muʿjam al-Ṣaghīr (p. 60) and in al-Awsat (vol. 1 / 121 / 1 of the supplementary material); likewise Aḥmad (3/436, 5/34); al-Ḥākim (3/586); Ibn ʿAdiyy in al-Kāmil (fol. 259/2); Abū Nuʿaym in al-Ḥilyah (2/302 and 6/343); and Ibn ʿAsākir (6/257/1) through various routes from Muʿāwiyah b. Qurrah, from his father, who said:

“A man said, ‘Messenger of Allah, when I slaughter a sheep I feel compassion for it.’ He replied with the statement quoted above.” Al-Bukhārī adds the wording “twice.”

Its chain is authentic. Al-Haythamī noted in al-Majmaʿ (4/33): “It was related by Aḥmad, al-Bazzār, and al-Ṭabarānī in al-Kabīr and al-Ṣaghīr; it comes in many different formulations, and its transmitters are trustworthy.”

27 – “Whoever shows mercy, even when slaughtering a sparrow, Allah will be merciful to him on the Day of Resurrection.”

Al-Bukhārī recorded it in al-Adab al-Mufrad (no. 371), and Tamām in al-Fawāʾid (fol. 194/1), from al-Qāsim b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān