- "In every century of my nation, there are forerunners." It was recorded by Abū Nuʿaym in "al-Ḥilyah" (1/8) and from him by al-Daylamī (2/333) with a suspended chain: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar narrated to us (and al-Daylamī said: Ibn Fāris), Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us (and al-Daylamī said: Ismāʿīl ibn Samawiyah): Saʿīd ibn Abī Maryam narrated to us (and al-Daylamī said: Saʿīd ibn al-Ḥakam): Yaḥyā ibn Ayyūb narrated to us from Ibn ʿAjlān from ʿIyāḍ ibn ʿAbd Allāh from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr from the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) with it, except that Abū Nuʿaym said: "For every century..." I say: This is a good isnād, its men are trustworthy and well-known from the men of "al-Tahdhīb" - with slight discussion regarding Muḥammad ibn ʿAjlān - except Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd Allāh, nicknamed Samawiyah, who is a trustworthy ḥāfiẓ, died in the year 267. And ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar is the son of Aḥmad ibn Fāris al-Aṣbahānī, one of the teachers of Abū Nuʿaym from whom he frequently narrates, and he was translated in "Akhbār Aṣbahān" (2/80), as well as by Ibn al-ʿImād in "al-Shadharāt" - deaths of the year (346) and described as (the righteous). Al-Dhahabī said in "al-Siyar" (15/553): "And he was among the trustworthy worshippers." Then he mentioned that he was deemed trustworthy by Ibn Mardawayh and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Sūdhrajānī. Al-Suyūṭī attributed the ḥadīth in "al-Jāmiʿ" to al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī only, and mentioned in "al-Fatāwá" (2/462) that he narrated it through the path of Layth ibn Saʿd from Muḥammad ibn ʿAjlān with it. The ḥadīth was narrated by the ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī in "Tadhkirat al-Ḥuffāẓ" (2/132) through the path of Abū Nuʿaym, and he said: "A very strange ḥadīth, and its isnād is sound."