I say: This gives the impression that he alone narrated it, but that is not so. Rather, a number of trustworthy narrators corroborated him, as was indicated at the beginning of this hadith verification; Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, had previously mentioned them. They were Ḥammād ibn Salamah, ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn Saʿīd, and al-ʿAwwām ibn Ḥawshab. All three agreed with Ḥashraj on the substance of the hadith. Therefore, it is not permissible to declare the hadith defective on his account, as is obvious even to a beginner in this field, let alone one who excels in it.

Perhaps Professor al-Khaṭīb did not notice these strong corroborations, assuming that since Tirmidhī narrated it through Ḥashraj, the others narrated it in the same way. But how could Tirmidhī’s statement immediately after the hadith—as quoted above—have escaped him: “More than one narrator has narrated it from Saʿīd ibn Jumḥān”?

The third objection is that ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad narrated it through Suwayd al-Ṭaḥḥān, whose hadith is weak.

I say: This does not harm the hadith in the least, for the very large number of authorities to whom the hadith was previously attributed narrated it from Saʿīd ibn Jumḥān through numerous authentic chains, none of which contains this Suwayd. Does it harm trustworthy narrators that a weak narrator should share in narrating it?

It has thus become plainly clear that the hadith is free of any hidden defect that would undermine its chain, and that it is authentic and may be relied upon as proof. Success is granted by Allah.

Professor al-Khaṭīb also alleged another defect in its text, saying:

“This flimsy hadith is contradicted by that authentic, explicit, and eloquent hadith in the Book of Leadership in Sahih Muslim … from Jābir ibn Samurah, who said:

“‘I entered with my father to see the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and heard him say: This matter will not come to an end until there have passed among them twelve caliphs … all of them from Quraysh.’”

This alleged contradiction is untenable, for one of the established principles of hadith terminology is that an authentic hadith may not be rejected because it appears to conflict with one that is more authentic; rather, reconciliation and harmonization must be sought.