Al-Ruyani also recorded it by way of this chain in his Musnad (29/197–198), as did al-Bayhaqi in al-Shuʿab (2/384/1, Islamic Office facsimile edition).

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission that meets the conditions of al-Bukhari and Muslim. In Ahmad’s version, it is a three-narrator chain.

Al-Haythami said (10/190):

“Ahmad narrated it, and its narrators are narrators of the Sahih. Al-Tabarani also narrated it in his three collections by two routes; the narrators of one of them are narrators of the Sahih, apart from Abd al-Wahhab ibn Abd al-Hakam, who is trustworthy.”

390 — “When he wished to sleep while in a state of major ritual impurity, he would perform ablution; and when he wished to eat, he would wash his hands.”

Al-Nasa’i narrated it (1/50): Muhammad ibn Ubayd ibn Muhammad informed us; he said: Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak narrated to us, from Yunus, from al-Zuhri, from Abu Salamah, from Aishah, may Allah be pleased with her:

“The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, used to …”

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy and are narrators of al-Bukhari and Muslim, apart from Muhammad ibn Ubayd, who was Abu Jaʿfar—or Abu Yaʿla—the coppersmith of Kufah; he was truthful.

Suwayd ibn Nasr also corroborated him, saying: Abdullah informed us, from Yunus, with the same chain.

Al-Nasa’i recorded it, as well as in al-Kubra (folio 65/2).