I heard Hassan b. Bilal relate it from him. This isnad is sound; all of its transmitters are accepted by the two Shaykhs except Hassan b. Bilal, whom Ibn al-Madini declared reliable—and that, as al-Hafiz remarks, suffices to refute Ibn Hazm’s assertion that he is “unknown.” Ahmad also records the report (4/36) through Hashim and Abu Awana, from Abu Bishr, from Ali b. Bilal al-Laythi, from certain men of the Ansar who said: “We would pray Maghrib and then depart…,” and al-Tahawi cites it through the same two sheikhs. Al-Hafiz comments in Fath al-Bari: “Its chain is hasan.” I say: Ali b. Bilal is listed in Ibn Hajar’s al-Taʿjil, which notes: “Abu Bishr Jaʿfar b. Abi Wahshiyya narrated from him; he is not well-known.” Ibn Hibban, in al-Thiqat among the Successors, writes: “Ali b. Bilal narrates mursal and muqattaʿ reports; Abu Bishr transmitted from him, so he is evidently this same person.” It appears to me that Ali b. Bilal is in fact Hassan b. Bilal of the first isnad; Shuʿbah differed from Hashim and Abu Awana over his name, and the agreement of the latter two carries more weight than Shuʿbah’s solitary version. Allah knows best. Fourth: the hadith of Jabir, which has four routes: 1. Via Ibn Abi Dhib, from Saʿid b. Abi Saʿid al-Maqburi, from al-Qaqaʿ b. Hakim, from Jabir. Reported by al-Tahawi, al-Tayalisi (no. 243), and Ahmad (3/382).