Ibn Ujlan, from Zayd b. Aslam, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurayrah, as a marfuʿ report. This chain is hasan (sound), yet it has been challenged on two grounds: 1. Abu Khalid alone reports it from Muhammad b. Ujlan; 2. Ibn Ujlan alone reports it from Abu Salih. Regarding the first: Abu Dawud said, “The word fa-ansitu (‘keep silent’) is not reliably preserved; the mistake is from Abu Khalid.” I reply: Abu Khalid is trustworthy—he is accepted by all the major compilers—so attributing the error to him rather than to Ibn Ujlan implies that Ibn Ujlan, in Abu Dawud’s estimation, outranks Abu Khalid. This is surprising, for there is criticism of Ibn Ujlan, whereas Abu Khalid is unquestionably reliable, as Ibn al-Turkmani and others have affirmed. Moreover, Abu Khalid was not alone in transmitting the hadith; several others corroborated him: • Muhammad b. Saʿd al-Ansari: cited by al-Nasai and, through his route, by al-Daraqutni (p. 125); al-Nasai declared him reliable. • Abu Saʿd al-Saghani, Muhammad b. Maysarah (with a ya and an un-dotted ha, metrically like “Muhammad”): recorded by al-Daraqutni and by Ahmad (2/376); the former graded him “weak.” • Ismail b. Aban al-Ghanawi: likewise recorded by al-Daraqutni and by al-Bayhaqi (2/156); al-Daraqutni also graded him weak. I observe: the corroboration supplied by these two—despite their weakness—still strengthens the hadith, especially since they back up two trustworthy narrators, Sulayman b. Hayyan and Muhammad b. Saʿd. Thus the first objection is removed. The second objection, however, is admittedly stronger. Al-Bayhaqi (2/157) relates from Ibn Abi Hatim, who said: