(1) This hadith reaches us through several chains that corroborate one another; among them are the following: The first chain: Sufyan al-Thawri → Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Aqil → Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya → ʿAli (may Allah be pleased with him), transmitted as a marfuʿ report. This isnad is hasan. It was recorded by al-Shafiʿi in al-Umm (1/87); Abu Dawud (1/10, 101); al-Tirmidhi (1/8–9); al-Darimi (1/175); Ibn Majah (1/118); al-Tahawi (1/161); al-Daraqutni (138, 145); al-Bayhaqi (2/173, 379); Ahmad (1/123, 129); and al-Khatib (10/197) through various routes from him. It was also reported by Ibn Abi Shayba, Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, and al-Bazzar in their Musnads, as al-Zaylaʿi notes (1/307). Al-Tirmidhi commented: “This is the soundest and finest hadith on this subject. Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Aqil is truthful, though some scholars have criticised his memory. I heard Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil—meaning al-Bukhari—say: Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ishaq ibn Ibrahim, and al-Humaydi accepted the hadith of Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Aqil as evidence. Muhammad added: His hadith is of moderate strength.” Al-Hafiz said in al-Talkhis (3/265): “It was declared sahih by al-Hakim and Ibn al-Sakan.” He also wrote in Fath al-Bari (1/257): “The compilers of the Sunan transmitted it with a sahih chain.” Al-Nawawi stated in al-Khulasa: “It is a hasan hadith,” and in al-Majmuʿ (3/289): “Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, and others narrated it with a sahih isnad, except that it contains Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn …”