Ahmad 7165

Its chain of transmission is sahih. Abu Salih is Samman Zayyat, whose reliability was established earlier at 4626, and we add here that Ibn Abu Hatim also gave his biography in al-Jarh wal-Tadil, 2/1/450-451. Abdullah bin Ahmad, quoting his father here before narrating this hadith, stated explicitly that it is a narration of Umara from Abu Salih. He recorded it in the midst of Umara's narrations from Abu Zura, fearing that some readers or copyists might confuse the two and think it a mistake. This is a precise caution, since Umara also narrated this hadith from Abu Zura, and Abu Salih also narrated it from Abu Hurairah, which is confirmed by the narration of another transmitter besides Umara, as we shall mention in tracing its sources, Allah willing.Ibn Majah narrated it, 2:306-307, via Muhammad bin Fudayl, from Umara bin Qaqa, from Abu Zura, from Abu Hurairah. Ibn Fudayl is Ahmad's teacher in the chain given here, so he heard it from Umara by both routes, from Abu Salih and from Abu Zura. Bukhari narrated it with similar wording, 6:260-261, via Jareer, and Muslim, 2:350, via Abdul-Wahid bin Ziyad and Jareer, both of them from Umara, from Abu Zura, from Abu Hurairah. So these are three teachers, including Ibn Fudayl himself, who narrated it from Umara, from Abu Zura. It was therefore a precise caution on the part of Imam Ahmad to state clearly that the chain he narrated from Ibn Fudayl was in fact a different route, in which Ibn Fudayl narrates from Umara, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurairah, and that it was neither a mistake nor an oversight.This is supported by the fact that Amash also narrated it from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurairah. Ahmad narrated it, as will come at 7429, from Abu Muawiya, from Amash, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurairah. Muslim, 2:350, and Ibn Majah, 2:307, likewise both narrated it via Abu Muawiya, from Amash.Furthermore, the hadith is established with similar wording through more than one route from Abu Hurairah. Ahmad narrated it, 8183, from Abdul-Razzaq, from Mamar, from Hammam bin Munabbih, from Abu Hurairah. Bukhari, 6:230-232, and Tirmidhi, 3:327-328, likewise both narrated it via Abdullah bin Mubarak, from Mamar. Tirmidhi said, This is a hadith sahih. Bukhari also narrated it with a similar meaning, 6:232, from the hadith of Abu Zinad, from Araj, from Abu Hurairah. Likewise, 6:233, from the hadith of Hilal bin Abu Maymuna, from Abdul-Rahman bin Abu Amra, from Abu Hurairah. See also 7152, where we have already pointed to this.His saying, "and their sweat is musk," the raashh is perspiration, because it emerges from the body little by little, just as a vessel with porous parts seeps moisture, as Ibn Athir said.As for his saying, "and their censers are aloeswood," Ibn Athir said, majamir is the plural of mijmar and mijmar. The mijmar, with the first letter kasrah, is the vessel in which fire is placed for incense. The mujmar, with the first letter damma, is that which is fumigated and for which live embers are prepared, and this is what is meant in this hadith, that is, their incense is of aloeswood. He also said, aluwa is the wood that is burned as incense. Its initial hamza may be pronounced with fatha or damma, and this hamza is original, though some say it is additional. It is pronounced with damma on the lam and with a doubled waw carrying fatha.As for his saying, "of one form," the Hafiz said in Fath al-Bari, 6:260-261, it is with fatha on the first letter of khalq, not damma. This is likewise established with fatha only in the Yununiyya edition, volume 4, page 132, of the Sultani printing of Bukhari, in the narration of Umara from Abu Zura. As for Sahih Muslim, in the Istanbul printing, 8:147-148, it is vocalized in Umara's narration with damma on both the kha and the lam, while in Amash's narration from Abu Salih it is vocalized both ways, since he narrated it from Abu Bakr bin Abu Shayba, from Abu Muawiya, with damma on both letters, and from Abu Kurayb, from Abu Muawiya, with fatha followed by sukun. Nawawi said in his commentary, 18:172, Muslim mentioned in the book the difference between Ibn Abu Shayba and Abu Kurayb in its vocalization, for Ibn Abu Shayba narrates it with damma on the kha and the lam, while Abu Kurayb narrates it with fatha on the kha and sukun on the lam, and both are sahih.