is evident, and it is not even authentic in its isnād. However, it is ḥasan according to the more likely opinion. And Allāh knows best.

- "The Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) used to whisper something after prayer that I could not understand and he would not inform us about it. He said: Did you notice what I did? We said: Yes. He said: I remembered a prophet from among the prophets who was given troops from his people, (in another narration: he was impressed by his nation), and he said: Who can match these? Or who can stand against these - or other such words, (in the other narration: who can stand against these? and he did not doubt), so it was revealed to him to choose for his people one of three: either they be subjected to an enemy from outside them, or famine, or death. He consulted his people about it, and they said: You are the prophet of Allāh, so the choice is yours, choose for us. So he stood up for prayer, and whenever they were alarmed, they would resort to prayer, and he prayed as much as Allāh willed. Then he said: O Lord! As for an enemy from outside them, no; or famine, no; but death, so inflict death upon them, and seventy thousand of them died in one day. So the whispering you see me doing is: O Allāh, by You I move, by You I attack, and by You I fight." It was recorded by Aḥmad (6/16): ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī narrated to us, Sulaymān ibn al-Mughīrah narrated to us from Thābit from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylá from Ṣuhayb who said... and he mentioned it. I said: And this isnād is authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs. And it was corroborated by Maʿmar from Thābit al-Banānī with a similar narration, except for the conclusion, and the other narration