Ahmad recorded it (6/232): ‘Abd al-Razzaq narrated to us; Ma‘mar narrated to us, from al-Zuhri, from ‘Urwah, from ‘A’ishah, who related it.
I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission that meets the criteria of al-Bukhari and Muslim. Hisham ibn ‘Urwah corroborated it. Ahmad said (6/229): Abu Mu‘awiyah narrated to us; Hisham ibn ‘Urwah narrated to us, from his father, with a similar wording.
Muslim recorded it (7/80) through this route, but without the mention of the choice, and al-Bukhari recorded it (2/394) through the first route, but without the mention of striking.
- “O Arabs, your death-knells! O Arabs, your death-knells!”—three times. “Indeed, what I fear most for you is ostentation and hidden desire.”
Al-Tabarani recorded it in The Great Lexicon; Ibn ‘Adi in The Complete Work (fol. 220/2); Abu Nu‘aym in The Adornment (7/122) and Reports of Isfahan (2/66); and al-Bayhaqi in Asceticism (2/37/2), through ‘Abdullah ibn Budayl ibn Warqa’ al-Khuza‘i, from al-Zuhri, from ‘Abbad ibn Tamim, from his uncle, in a report attributed to the Prophet.
I say: This is a good chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy and are all narrators cited by Muslim, apart from this ‘Abdullah ibn Budayl. Ibn ‘Adi said: “He has some reports that are criticised for additions either to a hadith text or to a chain of transmission. I have not found any statement about him from the earlier scholars, so I have mentioned him.”
I say: Ibn Abi Hatim (2/2/15) narrated from Ibn Ma‘in that he said of him: “Acceptable.” Ibn Hibban included him among the reliable narrators. Al-Hafiz said in The Abridgment: “Truthful, but makes errors.” Concerning the hadith, al-Haythami said in The Compilation (6/655):