the more likely is the first: "the Year of the Elephant"; because most narrations support it, and Ibn Maʿīn was followed in this by al-Bazzār (1/121/226), and al-Ḥākim (2/603), and from him al-Bayhaqī, and Ibn ʿAsākir through other chains from Ḥajjāj ibn Muḥammad with it, and al-Ḥākim said: "Authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs," and al-Dhahabī agreed with him. I said: and it is as they said, except that Abū Isḥāq—who is al-Sabīʿī—is a mudallis and mixed up, and his son Yūnus narrated from him during his confusion. Then al-Ḥākim narrated it through the route of al-Ḥusayn ibn Ḥumayd ibn al-Rabīʿ: my father narrated to us: Ḥajjāj ibn Muḥammad narrated to us with the wording: "on the Day of the Elephant." And he said: "Ḥumayd ibn al-Rabīʿ was unique in this wording, and no one followed him in it." I said: there is a disagreement about him, between those who consider him a liar and those who deem him trustworthy, so refer to "al-Lisān" for him. But his son al-Ḥusayn is in a worse state than him; Muṭayyin declared him a liar, Ibn ʿAdī accused him, and no one deemed him trustworthy, so someone like him is not to be taken for his ḥadīth even if he did not contradict, so how if he did contradict?! See "al-Lisān." As for the ḥadīth of Qays ibn Makhramah; it is narrated by Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq in "al-Sīrah" (1/171) who said: al-Muṭṭalib ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qays ibn Makhramah narrated to me from his father from his grandfather who said: "I and the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) were born in the Year of the Elephant, so we are peers." And through the route of Ibn Isḥāq: it was extracted by al-Tirmidhī (9/24/3623), and al-Ḥākim (2/603 and 3/456), and through him: al-Bayhaqī in "al-Dalāʾil" (1/76), and al-Ṭabarānī in "al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr" (18/342/43), and Abū Nuʿaym in "al-Dalāʾil" (1/101), and Ibn ʿAsākir also all from Ibn Isḥāq with it, and al-Tirmidhī said—and he has an addition in the text—: