his confused reports. Yet Ibn Judʿān narrated it from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī. Thus, both this narration of his from al-Ḥasan and that of Yūnus ibn ʿUbayd from him indicate that the hadith has a basis traceable to al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī. But was it transmitted by him from ʿAtī, from Abī, or was it transmitted by him from al-Ḍaḥḥāk? We cannot give preference to either of the two, for the first route contains Ibn Judʿān, while the other contains Mūsā ibn Masʿūd, and both are weak—although Ibn Masʿūd is in a better state than Ibn Judʿān. Thus, his narration may be more likely to be preferable, and this was confirmed for me when I found those who corroborated him, as previously mentioned.
Moreover, in both transmissions from al-Ḥasan, the hadith is related with an unexplicit “from” formula. It is therefore possible that his shaykh in both was one and the same, in which case the two reports would go back to a single route. For this reason, I do not feel reassured, nor is my heart at ease, in relying on this corroborating report, since both it and the report it is intended to corroborate go back to one route. Thus, it does not strengthen the hadith, for this would amount to strengthening a weak report with itself!
Nevertheless, the hadith has another corroborating report from Salmān, who said:
“A group came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and he asked, ‘Do you have food?’ They replied, ‘Yes.’ He asked, ‘And do you have drink?’ They replied, ‘Yes.’ He asked, ‘Do you strain it?’ They replied, ‘Yes.’ He asked, ‘And do you excrete it?’ They replied, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Indeed, their eventual end is like that of this world: one of you goes behind his house and holds his nose because of its stench.’”
Al-Haythamī said (10/288): “Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it, and its narrators are narrators of the authentic collections.”
I say: If its chain is through a route other than that of al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, as I hope, then it is suitable as corroborating evidence for the hadith and strengthens it. And Allah knows best.
Ibn Abī al-Dunyā also narrated it through Sufyān, from ʿĀṣim, from Abū ʿUthmān, who said: “A man came …”—the hadith with wording similar to Salmān’s narration.