“Its chain is authentic, and its narrators are trustworthy.” Al-Dhahabi endorsed this, and it is as he said.

Al-Tirmidhi said: “Good and authentic. I heard Muhammad ibn Isma‘il say: Sulayman ibn Harb used to say regarding this hadith: ‘None of us is free of it, but Allah removes it through reliance upon Him.’ He said: ‘In my view, this is a statement of Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud.’”

I say: This means that this portion of the hadith is interpolated and is not attributed to the Prophet. It seems that for this reason al-Suyuti did not cite it in full, but rather cited only its first sentence, relying on Ibn Harb’s statement.

Al-Manawi, the commentator, said:

“But Ibn al-Qattan objected to this, saying: ‘When speech is transmitted as a single continuous passage, the claim that part of it has been interpolated cannot be accepted without proof.’”

I say: There is no proof here for interpolation; thus, the hadith is authentic in its entirety.

430 — “Treat my Companions well, then those who follow them, then those who follow them. Then there will come people such that one of them will swear an oath before being asked to do so, and give testimony before being asked to testify. Whoever among you wishes to attain the heart of Paradise, let him adhere to the congregation. For Satan is with the one, and he is farther from two. No man should be alone with a woman, for Satan is their third. Whoever is pleased by his good deed and saddened by his evil deed is a believer.”

Ibn Majah (2/64), al-Tahawi in Sharh al-Ma‘ani (2/284–285), and Ibn Hibban (2282) recorded it, omitting the words: “Whoever wishes…” and what follows; as did al-Tayalisi (p. 7, no. 31), Ahmad (vol. 1, no. 177), and Abu Ya‘la in his Musnad (1/45, photographic edition of al-Maktab al-Islami).