we were sitting with the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) when Sūrah al-Jumuʿah was revealed to him. When he recited: *"And others of them who have not yet joined them"* (Sūrah al-Jumuʿah, verse 3), a man asked: "Who are they, O Messenger of Allāh?" The Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) did not respond to him until he asked once, twice, or three times. Salmān al-Fārisī was among us, and the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) placed his hand on Salmān and then said: the ḥadīth. I said: It has been authentically reported in another wording, which is: "If the religion were at the Pleiades, a man from Persia—or he said: from the sons of Persia—would go to attain it." It was recorded by Muslim (6/191) and Aḥmad (2/308-309) from the route of Zayd ibn al-Aṣamm from Abū Hurayrah as marfūʿ. I said: There is another route from Abū Hurayrah that includes the reason for its revelation, which is what was recorded by Ibn Abī Ḥātim and Ibn Jarīr from the route of Muslim ibn Khālid from al-ʿAlāʾ ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān from his father from Abū Hurayrah, who said: "The Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) recited this verse: *'And if you turn away, He will replace you with another people, and they will not be like you'* (Sūrah Muḥammad, verse 38). They said: 'O Messenger of Allāh, who are those who, if we turn away, will replace us and will not be like us?' He then struck his hand on the shoulder of Salmān al-Fārisī (raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhu) and said: 'This one and his people, if the religion...'" Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr said: "Muslim ibn Khālid al-Zanjī was unique in narrating this, and some imams have spoken about him." I said: He is weak due to his memory, and the reason he provided for the ḥadīth contradicts what Abū al-Ghayth narrated from Abū Hurayrah in the first wording. (See the correction number 14/1) It was also narrated with the wording "If the knowledge..." and it will appear in "al-Ḍaʿīfah" (2054). It has a corroborating narration from Ibn ʿUmar as marfūʿ with the wording: "I saw many black sheep, and many white sheep entered among them. They said: 'What did you interpret it as, O Messenger of Allāh?' He said: 'The non-Arabs, they will share with you in your religion and your lineage.' They said: 'The non-Arabs, O Messenger of Allāh?' He said: 'If faith were suspended at the Pleiades, men from the non-Arabs would attain it, and they would be the most fortunate with it among people.'"

- "I saw many black sheep, and many white sheep entered among them. They said: 'What did you interpret it as, O Messenger of Allāh?' He said: 'The non-Arabs,