“The compiler marked it as weak, and al-Ḥāfiẓ al-ʿIrāqī had already explained its defect, saying: ‘Mūsā ibn Wardān is disputed.’ End quote.

Perhaps this applies to Ibn ʿAdī’s chain; as for Abū Yaʿlā’s chain, al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Haythamī said: ‘Its transmitters are those of the two Ṣaḥīḥs, apart from Ḍimām ibn Ismāʿīl, who is trustworthy.’ End quote.

Thus it is known that the compiler’s unqualified marking of it as weak is not sound.”

I say: There are several problems with this statement:

First: Al-ʿIrāqī’s statement concerning Ibn Wardān, that he is “disputed,” does not explicitly declare him weak. Rather, it is closer to strengthening him than to weakening him, since their customary use of the expression “disputed” is not intended to weaken a narrator. Rather, they indicate by it that his hadith is good, or at least close to good; they do not mean to declare it unqualifiedly weak. For the nature of a good hadith is that one of its narrators is subject to some disagreement; otherwise, it would be authentic. So reflect on this.

Second: Al-Haythamī’s statement, “Its transmitters are those of the two Ṣaḥīḥs ...,” is not correct, for Mūsā ibn Wardān was not narrated from by al-Bukhārī or Muslim in their Ṣaḥīḥs. Rather, the former narrated from him only in al-Adab al-Mufrad.

Third: Al-Manāwī’s inclination to the view that Abū Yaʿlā’s chain does not contain the aforementioned Mūsā is incorrect, as is shown by our cited documentation at the beginning of this investigation. So take due advantage of it, for it is rare and precious.

The hadith is also found in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim and elsewhere through another chain from Abū Hurayrah, attributed to the Prophet, in the abbreviated wording: “Prompt your dying ones to say: ‘There is no deity worthy of worship but Allah.’”

Lessons derived from the hadith:

It establishes the prescribed practice of prompting the person at the point of death with the testimony of Allah’s oneness, in the hope that he will say it and thus prosper.

What is meant by