I said: And you know that the narration of Abū Yaʿlá is like the narration of al-Bayhaqī, both of which revolve around this Saʿd. Criticizing al-Suyūṭī based on what I have quoted from him does not hold much weight. Moreover, the statement of al-Haythamī: "Saʿd did not hear from Anas" has no known precedent. Rather, Abū Dāwūd said: I asked Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ: Did Sinān ibn Saʿd (who is Saʿd ibn Sinān, about whom two opinions are said) hear from Anas? He became angry out of respect for him.

"Three things are obligatory upon every Muslim: bathing on Friday, using the toothstick, and applying perfume if available." It was recorded by Aḥmad (4/34) and Ibn Abī Shaybah in "al-Muṣannaf" (1/201/1) through the route of Shuʿbah from Saʿd ibn Ibrāhīm, who said: I heard Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Thawbān narrating from a man from the Anṣār from a man among the Companions of the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) that he said: and he mentioned it as a statement of a Companion. This is how Shuʿbah reported it. Sufyān al-Thawrī disagreed with him and said: from Saʿd ibn Ibrāhīm from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Thawbān from a man from the Anṣār among the Companions of the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) from the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) he said: and he mentioned it as a Prophetic statement. Aḥmad recorded it: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to us from Sufyān with it. Wakīʿ followed him from Sufyān with it. Aḥmad also recorded it (5/363). I said: This isnād is authentic, for all its narrators are trustworthy, the narrators of the two Shaykhs [al-Bukhārī and Muslim], and the anonymity of the Companion does not harm, and Sufyān is more reliable than Shuʿbah. It has supporting narrations, including from Thawbān as a Prophetic statement with it. It was recorded by al-Bazzār (no. 624) through the route of Yazīd ibn Rabīʿah from Abū al-Ashʿath from Abū ʿUthmān from him