Ahmad 7488

Its chain of transmission is sahih, though there is an error in it, in my view, coming from Yazid bin Harun, the teacher of Ahmad. Ayyad bin Dinar Laythi is a trustworthy tabii, deemed trustworthy by Ibn Ishaq, as will come in the chain that follows this one, and as Bukhari transmitted in al-Kabir 4/1/22. Ibn Hibban mentioned him among the trustworthy tabiin (299), saying, "Ayyad bin Dinar Laythi, from the people of Madinah, narrates from Abu Hurairah, and Muhammad bin Ishaq bin Yasar narrated from him." Ibn Abu Hatim did not give him a biographical entry.His father, Dinar Laythi, was not given a biographical entry by Bukhari, nor by Ibn Abu Hatim, nor by Ibn Hibban in al-Thiqat, nor by Dhahabi in al-Mizan. Husayni mentioned him in al-Ikmal (324), saying, "Dinar Laythi, from Abu Hurairah, and his son Ayyad narrated from him, he is unknown." Hafiz transmitted that in al-Tajil (120) without adding anything to it.In the chain that comes after this one, the statement of Ibn Ishaq will appear, "Ayyad bin Dinar Laythi told me, and he was trustworthy, he said, I heard Abu Hurairah delivering a sermon to the people..." This, in my view, is the correct version, since it comes through the narration of Ibrahim bin Saad from Ibn Ishaq, who was among the most knowledgeable people regarding Ibn Ishaq's hadith and his narration. Likewise was his son Yaqub, the teacher of Ahmad. So perhaps Yazid bin Harun, the narrator of this chain, made a mistake in his memory, erring by adding "from his father" to the chain.This is indicated by the fact that Bukhari transmitted Ibn Ishaq's affirmation of Ayyad's trustworthiness, for if he had known that Ayyad narrated from his father, he would have pointed that out as was his custom, and he would have given a biographical entry for his father, this Dinar. It is also indicated by the fact that Ibn Hibban, in al-Thiqat, restricted himself to saying that Ayyad narrates from Abu Hurairah, without mentioning that he also narrates from his father, and did not give a biographical entry for his father Dinar. As for Husayni's statement in Dinar's entry that he is unknown, this is simply his own declaration of unknown status for a narrator he found in this chain, since he found no one who had given him a biographical entry or referred to him, so he had no choice but to say he was unknown. Hafiz always transmits Husayni's words in al-Tajil, and then, if he finds a follow-up comment on it, he adds his own remark. But since he found nothing in this entry besides Husayni's words, he stopped there, so he did not do anything new.As for the text of the hadith, it is sahih, and it is in fact three hadiths with a single chain of transmission. It would have been more appropriate to assign them separate numbers, were it not that the Imam narrated them right after that with the following chain, without giving their full wording, so we were unable to assign them three numbers in the following chain.The first of them is the hadith, "The first group of my nation to enter Paradise..." which has already appeared at length, with two sahih chains, 7165 and 7429.The second of them is the hadith about the Hour on Friday, whose meaning has already appeared with two sahih chains, 7151 and 7429.The third of them is the hadith, "The Hour will not come until knowledge is taken away..." part of whose meaning has already appeared in a sahih hadith, 7186. Its meaning will also come through many sahih routes, including 8120, 9523, 10798, and 10875. Bukhari and others narrated its meaning many times, at length and in brief, including in Fath al-Bari 2:432.