Ahmad 2132

Its chain of transmission is sahih. Abu Salam is Mamtur Aswad Habashi, a trustworthy successor (tabii thiqah), whose biography Bukhari recorded in al-Kabir 4/2/57-58. Hakam bin Mina is also a trustworthy successor. The Hafiz mentioned that he has only one hadith in the Six Books, and this is it, found in Muslim, Nasai, and Ibn Majah, and that there is disagreement regarding its chain of transmission. Bukhari recorded his biography in al-Kabir 1/2/340-341.Nasai narrated this hadith (1:202) through the route of Yahya bin Abu Kathir, from Yazid, from Abu Salam, from Hakam bin Mina. This represents one angle of the disagreement in its chain, for it has been mentioned in the biography of Yahya bin Abu Kathir that he did not hear directly from Abu Salam. In Tahdheeb (11:269), Husayn Muallim said, "Yahya bin Abu Kathir told me, 'Everything from Abu Salam is only from a book (i.e., written material, not direct hearing).'"But in my view, this needs closer examination, for Yahya is early, he saw Anas and narrated from senior successors, and he is trustworthy. The one who narrated this hadith from him here is Hisham Dastawai, who is the most reliable of people regarding Yahya bin Abu Kathir. Abu Hatim said, "I asked Ahmad bin Hanbal about Uzai and Dastawai, which of them is more reliable regarding Yahya bin Abu Kathir?" He said, "Dastawai. Do not ask anyone else about it. I do not think people narrate from anyone more reliable than him. As for someone equal to him, perhaps, but as for someone more reliable than him, no."Abu Hatim also said, "I asked Ibn Madini, 'Who is the most reliable of Yahya bin Abu Kathir's companions?' He said, 'Hisham.' I said, 'Then who?' He said, 'Then Uzai,' and he named others. He said, 'So when you hear something from Hisham from Yahya, do not accept a substitute for it.'"As for the one from whom Nasai narrated regarding Yahya, who added what he added to the chain, that is Abu Aban bin Yazid Attar, who is trustworthy, but how could he be like Hisham!This hadith was also narrated by Muslim (1:236) through the route of Muawiya bin Salam, from his brother Zayd, from his grandfather Abu Salam, from Hakam bin Mina, that Abdullah bin Umar and Abu Hurairah told him, and so on. This is the other angle of the difference, and it is not truly a discrepancy, for Hakam heard the hadith from all three, Ibn Umar, Ibn Abbas, and Abu Hurairah, and so he narrated it both ways.As for attributing it to Ibn Majah, as the Hafiz indicated in Tahdheeb, I could not find it in Sunan Ibn Majah.Regarding "an wadahum" (with fatha on the waw and sukun on the dal), it is stated in al-Nihayah, "meaning, from their leaving it and staying behind from it." It is said, "wadaa ash-shay, yadauhu, wadaan," meaning "when he leaves it." The grammarians say that the Arabs let the past tense of "yadau" and its verbal noun fall out of use, replacing it with "tark" (leaving), and the Prophet ﷺ was more eloquent, for their statement should be understood as reflecting its rare usage. So it is anomalous in usage, but sound according to linguistic analogy.