ibn Bishr ibn Saʿd al-Marthadi related to us; Saʿd ibn Zunbur related to us; Ismaʿil ibn Mujalid related to us, from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr, from Raja ibn Haywah, from Abu Hurayrah, attributing it to the Prophet with the same wording.

This is a good chain of transmission, or close to good. Al-Dhahabi described ʿAli ibn Ahmad al-Razzaz as truthful. Al-Khatib included a biographical notice on him (11/330–331) and said: “We wrote down hadith from him. He had heard a great deal and from numerous shaykhs, and was markedly inclined to truthfulness. He died in 419 AH.”

Al-Khatib likewise included a biographical notice on ʿAbd al-Samad al-Tusti (11/41) and said: “He was trustworthy. I heard al-Barqani mention him, praise him, and urge us to record his hadith.” Regarding Ahmad ibn Bishr ibn Saʿd al-Marthadi, al-Khatib related (4/54) from Ibn Khirash that he used to praise him, and from ʿAli ibn al-Munadi, who said: “He was one of the trustworthy narrators.” He died in 286 AH. Al-Khatib also related from Ibn Maʿin concerning Saʿd ibn Zunbur that he said: “He is trustworthy; I do not think that he lies.” He died in 230 AH.

The remaining narrators in the chain are known from al-Tahdhib and are among the transmitters of the Sahih collections. Ismaʿil ibn Mujalid, however, although he was among al-Bukhari’s transmitters, has been criticized regarding his memory. Al-Taqrib says: “He is truthful but makes mistakes.”

I say: A narrator such as him does not cause his hadith to fall below the rank of good, particularly since he was not alone in narrating it; rather, it was also narrated by