"and I do not know of any companionship for Dhū al-Kulāʿ more than his acceptance of Islam and following the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) during his life. I think he was one of the delegations to him, and I do not know of any narration from him except from ʿAwf ibn Mālik." The ḥadīth has come through two other routes from ʿAwf: the first is from Bukayr ibn ʿAbd Allāh, who narrated that his brother Yaʿqūb and Ibn Abī Khuṣayfah told him that ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yazīd, the preacher of the Muslims in Constantinople, narrated to them from ʿAwf ibn Mālik al-Ashjaʿī. It was recorded by Aḥmad (6/27). I say: Its narrators are trustworthy except for this ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yazīd, about whom it is said in "Tajīl al-Manfaʿah": "I do not know him." The other is from Ṣāliḥ ibn Abī ʿArīb from Kathīr ibn Murrah from ʿAwf ibn Mālik who said: "ʿAwf ibn Mālik entered the mosque of Ḥimṣ and saw people gathered around a man. He asked, 'What is this gathering?' They said, 'Kaʿb is preaching.' He said, 'Woe to him! Did he not hear the saying of the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam)...'," and he mentioned it. It was also recorded by Aḥmad (6/29). I say: This isnād is good, and all its narrators are trustworthy except for this Ṣāliḥ, from whom a group of trustworthy narrators, including al-Layth ibn Saʿd, narrated, and Ibn Ḥibbān declared him trustworthy (6/457). The story of ʿAwf with Kaʿb occurred in the ḥadīth of Dhū al-Kulāʿ according to al-Bukhārī in "al-Tārīkh," and he added after the ḥadīth: "Kaʿb refrained from preaching for a year until Muʿāwiyah sent for him, ordering him to preach." Al-Bukhārī said afterward: "ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yaḥyá said: 'Muʿāwiyah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr narrated to us from his father from Kaʿb ibn ʿIyāḍ from the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam). The first is more authentic.'"