Hammad ibn Salamah also narrated it, saying: from Qatadah, from Umar ibn Sa'd ibn Malik, from Sa'd, with the same wording. Ahmad recorded it (1/175).
- As for the hadith of Abu Sa'id, Muslim and Ahmad (3/8, 41) recorded it through Layth, from Ibn al-Had, from Yuhannas, the freedman of Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr, from him. He said:
“Once, as we were travelling with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, at al-'Arj, a poet came along reciting poetry. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: ‘Seize Satan,’ or: ‘Restrain Satan. For one’s belly to be filled …’”
- As for the hadith of Umar, al-Tahawi recorded it through Khallad ibn Yahya, who said: Sufyan narrated to us, from Isma'il ibn Abi Khalid, from Amr ibn Hurayth, from Umar ibn al-Khattab, with the same wording.
I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission according to al-Bukhari’s criteria.
There are also reports on this subject from a number of other Companions. Al-Haythami has documented their hadiths in Majma' al-Zawa'id; whoever wishes to examine them may consult it (8/120).
I say: All these hadiths from these Companions concur with the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, and this indicates his truthfulness and sound retention.
I wrote this verification in response to some contemporary Shi'ites and Shi'a sympathizers who launch the harshest attacks against Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, attributing to him lies and fabrication against the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Far be it from him to have done so. Abu Rayyah, one of their hangers-on—may Allah requite them as they deserve—claimed that Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, did not retain the hadith from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, exactly as he uttered it. He further claimed that it contains an addition at its end which Abu Hurayrah did not mention, namely: “I was satirized by it”; and that Aishah retained this from him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and used it to refute Abu Hurayrah. Yet none of this has an authentic chain of transmission, as I have explained in The Series of Weak Hadiths (no. 1111).
Although we do not deny that Abu Hurayrah—despite his excellent retention—might forget something, since he—