Amr ibn al-Harith, who, as al-Hafiz states in al-Taqrib, was trustworthy, a jurist, and a hadith master.

His narration is recorded by Ibn Hibban in his Sahih (2311—its supplementary material), which is in print. The esteemed writer was therefore obliged to consult it, for it is one of the sources to which the hadith was attributed in the aforementioned documentation, and he was aware of it. His failure to consult it and examine its chain of transmission is inexcusable for anyone seeking to verify a hadith—especially when his investigation is undertaken to refute those, among both earlier scholars such as al-Hafiz al-Mundhiri and later ones such as myself, who authenticated it.

I would add here that Ibn Asakir also transmitted it in the History of Damascus (1/29/2), through the two preceding chains and through al-Tabarani’s route: Ahmad ibn Rushdayn al-Misri informed us; Harmalah ibn Yahya informed us; Ibn Wahb informed us; Amr ibn al-Harith informed me, with his chain traced back to the Prophet, using the wording:

“Blessed is al-Sham, for the Most Merciful is extending His mercy over it.”

However, this Ahmad is Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hajjaj ibn Rushdayn, Abu Ja'far al-Misri. Al-Mizan states: “Ibn Adi said: ‘They declared him a liar, and denounced certain things in his reports.’” It then mentions one of his fabrications. I consider this hadith, with this wording, to be one of his fabrications as well, since he alone reported it, to the exclusion of every other trustworthy narrator and others who transmitted this hadith. It is therefore necessary to draw attention to this, particularly since the apparent sense of al-Mundhiri’s words is that it is authentic with this wording. After citing it with the wording given in the heading, he said:

“Reported by al-Tirmidhi, who authenticated it; by Ibn Hibban in his Sahih; and by al-Tabarani with an authentic chain. Its wording is: ...”

He then cited it with this rejected wording. Even more explicit in giving the misleading impression that it is authentic is al-Haythami’s treatment of it: he included it in al-Majma' (10/60) with this wording and said: “Reported by al-Tabarani, and its narrators are narrators of the Sahih!” The statement should properly have been followed by the words: