"When he was pleased with a man, he would command him to pray." It was recorded by al-Bukhārī in "al-Tārīkh" (1/1/180), al-Bazzār (1/453/716), Abū Nuʿaym in "al-Ḥilyah" (1/343), and al-Khaṭīb (4/360) through the route of Yaḥyá ibn ʿAbbād Abū ʿAbbād: narrated to us by Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān from Thābit from Anas as a marfūʿ ḥadīth. I said: This isnād [chain of transmission] consists of trustworthy men except for Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān, who is al-Wāsiṭī. In his biography, al-Bukhārī mentioned him and said: "He heard from Thābit al-Bannānī from Anas ibn Mālik, as stated by ʿAbd al-Malik al-Judī from Saʿīd ibn Khālid from Muḥammad." I said: He did not mention any criticism or praise about him. In "al-Mīzān": "al-Azdī said: Weak." As for Ibn Ḥibbān, he mentioned him in "al-Thiqāt" (7/438) and said: "He narrates from Thābit al-Bannānī. Abū ʿAwānah narrated from him." I said: Three narrated from him: Yaḥyá ibn ʿAbbād, Abū ʿAwānah, whose name is al-Waḍḍāḥ al-Yashkurī, both of whom are trustworthy from the men of the two Shaykhs, and Saʿīd ibn Khālid, who is al-Khuzāʿī, and he is weak. From his generation is Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Sayyār al-Qurashī al-Baṣrī, who resided in Wāsiṭ. They mentioned that he narrated from Thābit al-Bannānī and Dhiyāl ibn ʿUbayd ibn Ḥanẓalah and others. A group narrated from him, among them Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr al-Muqaddamī as will be mentioned in the ḥadīth after this, and Abū ʿAbbād Yaḥyá ibn ʿAbbād mentioned in the isnād of this ḥadīth. It is possible, in my view, that he is this one. If so, the ḥadīth is authentic; otherwise, it is ḥasan [good]. And Allāh knows best