(2/149), al-Dārimī (2/437), Ibn Naṣr in "Qiyām al-Layl" (p. 71), Ibn Mājah (1/92 and 93), al-Ṭayālisī (p. 13, no. 73), Aḥmad (vol. 1, no. 412, 413, and 500), and al-Khaṭīb (4/109 and 11/35) all narrated it from the route of Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī from ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān as a marfūʿ ḥadīth, and al-Tirmidhī said: "A ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīth." It has been said that Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī did not hear from ʿUthmān. However, the ḥāfiẓ, following al-Bukhārī, favored the opinion that he did hear from him and elaborated on this in "al-Fatḥ," so whoever wishes may refer to it. In a narration by Aḥmad (vol. 1, no. 405), as well as al-Bukhārī, Ibn Mājah, and al-Khaṭīb (5/129), "the best of you" is used instead of "the most excellent of you." The ḥadīth was narrated with an addition, which is: "The best of you are those who learn the Quran and teach it, and the superiority of the Quran over other speech is like the superiority of Allāh over His creation, and that is because it is from Him." It was narrated by al-Bayhaqī in "al-Asmāʾ wa-al-Ṣifāt" (p. 238) from the route of Yaʿlá ibn al-Minhāl al-Kūfī, who reported to us from Isḥāq ibn Sulaymān al-Rāzī, from al-Jarrāḥ ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk al-Kindī, from ʿAlqamah ibn Murthad, from Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from ʿUthmān as a marfūʿ ḥadīth. Similarly, it was narrated by Ibn al-Ḍurays from al-Jarrāḥ with it, as mentioned in "al-Fatḥ" (9/54). I say: al-Jarrāḥ is considered truthful as in "al-Taqrīb," and the rest of its narrators are trustworthy, the men of the six [canonical collections], except for Yaʿlá ibn al-Minhāl, for whom I did not find a biography. He was followed by al-Ḥammānī from Isḥāq in raising it, and it was also narrated by al-Bayhaqī (237), who said: It is said that al-Ḥammānī took it from him—meaning this Yaʿlá—and Allāh knows best. I say: al-Ḥammānī is Yaḥyá ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd, and he is a trustworthy ḥāfiẓ from the men of Muslim, except that they accused him of stealing ḥadīth as in "al-Taqrīb." Yaḥyá ibn Abī Ṭālib differed from them regarding Isḥāq ibn Sulaymān, making the end of the narration, meaning "and the superiority of the Quran..." etc., from the statement of Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Others followed him in this, as al-Bayhaqī said, and the ḥāfiẓ said in "al-Fatḥ" (9/54): "al-ʿAskarī clarified that it is from the statement of Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī." I say: Thus, it is established that this addition cannot be authentically raised because the one who raised it is unknown, and he contradicts others in raising it, which is further supported by the fact that it does not appear in any of the routes of the ḥadīth