about whom al-Taqrib states: “There is no objection to him.” Al-Tirmidhi added: “The chain has been criticized; Yahya ibn Saʿid used to speak against ʿAli b. ʿAli al-Rifaʿi.” Ahmad said: “This hadith is not sound.” I say: Imam Ahmad was probably denying that it reaches the technical level of sahih, which is higher than hasan; that does not preclude the report from being hasan. Allah knows best. In our judgement the hadith is sahih li-ghayrihi (sound through corroborating chains), as will be shown below. Although Yahya spoke against ʿAli, Ibn Maʿin, Wakiʿ, and Abu Zurʿa declared him trustworthy, and Shuʿbah said: “Let us go to our master, the son of our master, ʿAli b. ʿAli al-Rifaʿi.” Ahmad also said: “There was nothing wrong with him, except that he would raise some reports.” I say: that is insufficient to discard the narration of a reliable transmitter; at most it shows occasional error—something from which no one is free. Yahya ibn Saʿid’s only criticism was: “He held the doctrine of qadar,” and, as is established in hadith methodology, this does not harm the narration of a reliable narrator. Al-ʿUqayli said: “It has also been transmitted through other routes with good chains,” and it is listed in Irwaʾ al-Ghalil (no. 341). 2 – As for the hadith of ʿAʾisha: it was related by al-Tirmidhi (2/11), Ibn Majah, al-Tahawi, al-Daraqutni, al-Hakim as well (1/235), and al-Bayhaqi, through the route of Haritha b. Abi al-Rijal → ʿAmra → ʿAʾisha, who said: when the Prophet ﷺ began the prayer he would say… and she mentioned the opening supplication. Al-Hakim declared it sahih, noting that “Haritha is somewhat weak,” and al-Dhahabi agreed. Al-Bayhaqi remarked: “Haritha b. Abi al-Rijal is weak.” As for al-Tirmidhi’s statement: