from the narration of Hammām ibn Munabbih, who said: Abū Hurayrah narrated to us, attributing it to the Prophet.

450 — “No two men love one another for Allah’s sake without the more beloved of them to Allah being the one whose love for his companion is stronger.”

It was recorded by al-Bukhārī in al-Adab al-Mufrad (79), Ibn Ḥibbān (2509), al-Ḥākim in al-Mustadrak (4/171), and al-Khaṭīb in al-Tārīkh (11/341), through al-Mubārak ibn Fuḍālah, from Thābit, from Anas.

Al-Ḥākim said: “The chain of transmission is authentic.” Al-Dhahabī agreed with him, and the hadith master al-ʿIrāqī likewise endorsed it in Takhrīj al-Iḥyāʾ (2/139).

I say: This is remarkable coming from al-Dhahabī, for he himself stated in al-Mīzān, in his biographical entry on this al-Mubārak: “Abū Dāwūd said: ‘He engages extensively in concealment in transmission; but when he says, “He narrated to us,” he is reliable.’ And Abū Zurʿah said: