that Muʿādh was before them by a stone's throw." It is narrated from ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb in a mursal form, and also from Abū ʿAwn in a mursal form, and al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī. 1 - As for the ḥadīth of ʿUmar, it was narrated by Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūbah from Shahr ibn Ḥawshab who said: ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhu) said: "If I were to appoint Muʿādh ibn Jabal (raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhu) as a successor, and my Lord asked me: What made you do that? I would say: I heard Your Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) say," and he mentioned it. It was recorded by Ibn Saʿd in "al-Ṭabaqāt" (2/348 and 3/590), al-Muḥāmilī in "al-Amālī" (3/35/1), and Abū Nuʿaym in "al-Ḥilyah" (1/228), and the context is his. I say: This isnād is weak due to Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, as he has poor memory, and he did not meet ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, so it is disconnected. However, Abū Nuʿaym connected it (1/229) saying: Abū Ḥāmid Thābit ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Nāqid narrated to us, ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Maṭar narrated to us, ʿAbdah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm narrated to us, Ḍamrah ibn Rabīʿah narrated from Yaḥyá ibn Abī ʿAmr al-Saybānī from Abū al-ʿAjfāʾ - or Abū al-ʿAjmāʾ, the doubt is from ʿAbdah - who said: It was said to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhu): If you were to appoint a successor? He said, and he mentioned it similarly. I say: This isnād is good; all its narrators are trustworthy and well-known, mentioned in "al-Tahdhīb" except for this Ibn Maṭar, who was mentioned by al-Khaṭīb in "al-Tārīkh" (11/337) and narrated from al-Dāraqutnī that he said: Trustworthy. And except for Thābit ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Nāqid, as I did not find a biography for him in any of the sources I currently have, and perhaps he is mentioned in "Akhbār Aṣbahān" by Abū Nuʿaym, so it should be checked. (2) In any case, it is a good isnād as we said, with its forthcoming mursal supports. 2 - As for the ḥadīth of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb, it has two routes from him: The first is from ʿAmr ibn Abī ʿAmr from him in a marfūʿ form with the wording: "Indeed, Muʿādh ibn Jabal is ahead of the scholars by a stone's throw."