“A man from among the Prophet’s Companions met me and grasped my shoulder from behind. He said, ‘Indeed, I love you.’ I replied, ‘May the One for whose sake you love me love you.’ He said, ‘Were it not that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said this’”—and he mentioned the hadith—“‘I would not have told you.’” He then began to offer me a marriage proposal, saying, ‘We have a slave girl, though she is one-eyed.’”

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. All its narrators are trustworthy and are among the narrators of al-Bukhari’s Sahih, apart from Ribah—namely, Ribah ibn Abi Maʿruf ibn Abi Sarah al-Makki—who is among the narrators of Muslim. Although some criticism has been made of him, it does not reduce his hadith below the rank of good. Al-Taqrib says: “Truthful, though he makes errors.”

Moreover, in our copy of al-Adab, the wording is: “Ribah, from Abu Ubayd Allah,” as you have seen. This is undoubtedly a scribal error, for this Ribah narrates directly from Mujahid, without an intermediary, and Sufyan al-Thawri narrates from him. It is possible that the particle “from” between Ribah and Abu Ubayd Allah was inserted by the pen of one of the copyists, and that the original wording was: “Ribah Abu Ubayd Allah.” If this is established, then Abu Ubayd Allah is this Ribah’s kunyah, which is a significant finding, since I have not come across his kunyah in any of the biographical works available to me. And Allah knows best.

The hadith has another supporting report from Anas, who said:

“I was sitting with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, when a man passed by. One of the people said, ‘Messenger of Allah, I truly love this man.’ He asked, ‘Have you informed him of that?’ He said, ‘No.’ So he said, ‘Get up and tell him.’ He then went to him and said, ‘O man, by Allah, I love you for the sake of Allah.’ He replied, ‘May the One for whose sake you love me love you.’”

Ahmad narrated it (3/140–141): Zayd ibn al-Hubab narrated to us; Husayn ibn Waqid narrated to us; Thabit al-Bunani narrated to me from Anas ibn Malik. This is an authentic chain according to the criteria of Muslim.

Ibn Hibban (2513) also graded it authentic through a route from