Nor does Abū Nuʿaym’s labeling of it as “singular” (gharīb) contradict its soundness, for singularity can coexist with authenticity, as is well established in the principles of hadith criticism.

Al-Suyūṭī, in al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr, cites the report only under Abū Nuʿaym’s name, and al-Manāwī remarks: “al-ʿĀmirī graded it ḥasan (fair).”

Al-Bukhārī also transmitted it in al-Adab al-Mufrad (592) through the route of Miskīn ibn Bukayr al-Ḥadhdhāʾ al-Ḥarrānī, from Jaʿfar ibn Burqān, but as a mawqūf report halted at Abū Hurayrah. Miskīn is truthful yet prone to error, so the marfūʿ version narrated by Ibn Ḥumayr is weightier, for he was not accused of error, and both men are among al-Bukhārī’s transmitters.

34 – “When my Companions are mentioned, withhold; when the stars are mentioned, withhold; and when predestination is mentioned, withhold.”

This ḥadith is reported from Ibn Masʿūd, Thawbān, Ibn ʿUmar, and—mursalan—from Ṭāwūs. All the isnāds are weak, yet they lend support to one another.

As for the narration of Ibn Masʿūd, al-Ṭabarānī recorded it in al-Kabīr (2/78/2) and Abū Nuʿaym in al-Ḥilyah (4/108) via al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Fasawī, Saʿīd ibn Sulaymān, Mis-har ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Salaʿ al-Hamadānī, al-Aʿmash, and Abū Wāʾil, from