"and Ismāʿīl ibn Abī al-Ḥakam al-Thaqafī is unknown to me, but the rest of the men are trustworthy." Shaykh Ḥamdī al-Salafī critiqued him, meaning al-Haythamī, by stating that he had said about this al-Thaqafī in another ḥadīth (4/80): "Abū Ḥātim declared him trustworthy, and no one spoke against him." I say: Abū Ḥātim did not declare him trustworthy, for his son said in "al-Jarḥ" (1/1/165): "Abū Zurʿah narrated from him, and my father was asked about him, and he said: 'Shaykh.'" This term "Shaykh" does not mean he is trustworthy; rather, he is cited as his son clarified in his book (1/37). Yes, Abū Zurʿah's narration from him is a form of endorsement, as is known. Thus, the isnād is ḥasan, if Allāh wills. Fourth: from two paths from Anas ibn Mālik, raised [to the Prophet]. It was recorded by Ibn ʿAsākir in "al-Tārīkh" (2/60/2 and 11/38/1). Fifth: from al-Walīd ibn ʿUbādah from his father ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit in a ḥadīth: "You will not truly believe in Allāh until you believe in predestination, its good and its bad, and know that what has befallen you was not going to miss you and what missed you was not going to befall you. I heard the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) say: 'Predestination is like this; whoever dies not believing in this will enter the Fire.'" It was recorded by al-Ājurī, as well as Aḥmad and Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim, and it is a ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīth as I have verified in "Takhrīj al-Sunnah li-Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim" (no. 111). Sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth: from Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān, and Zayd ibn Thābit, raised [to the Prophet] in their ḥadīth about predestination: "Even if you were to spend an amount of gold equal to Mount Uḥud in the way of Allāh, He would not accept it from you until you believe in predestination, and know..