from Anas with a similar narration, but it does not include the ḥadīth of the chapter. It was recorded by al-Bazzār (p. 207). I said: This isnād has weakness due to Sharīk and his son. It has another supporting narration reported by Jāmiʿ ibn Maṭar al-Ḥubṭī: Abū Ruʾbah Shaddād ibn ʿImrān al-Qaysī narrated to us from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī that Abū Bakr came to the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) and said: O Messenger of Allāh! I passed by such-and-such valley, and there was a man in a humble state, with a good appearance, praying. The Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) said to him: Go to him and kill him. He said: Abū Bakr went to him, but when he saw him in that state, he disliked killing him, so he returned to the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam). The Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) then said to ʿUmar: Go and kill him. ʿUmar went and saw him in the same state that Abū Bakr had seen him, and he disliked killing him, so he returned and said: O Messenger of Allāh! I saw him praying humbly, and I disliked killing him. The Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) said: O ʿAlī! Go and kill him. ʿAlī went but did not see him, so he returned and said: O Messenger of Allāh! He did not see him. The Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) said: This man and his companions recite the Qurʾān, but it does not go beyond their throats. They will exit the religion as an arrow exits from the prey, and they will not return to it until the arrow returns to its bowstring. Kill them; they are the worst of creation. It was recorded by Aḥmad (3/15). I said: Its isnād is good; its narrators are trustworthy and well-known, except for Abū Ruʾbah, whom Ibn Ḥibbān deemed reliable, and Yazīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Shaybānī also narrated from him. Al-Haythamī said (6/225): "Aḥmad narrated it, and its narrators are trustworthy." Then it was explicitly stated on the following page that it is authentic, as is the previous ḥadīth of Abū Bakrah, the ḥadīth of the chapter. (Fawqah): In "al-Nihāyah": "Fawq al-sahm: the place of the bowstring on it."