ʿAbd al-Malik—a reliable and firm narrator from the two Shaykhs [al-Bukhārī and Muslim]; as mentioned in "al-Taqrīb," it appears that Shuʿbah sometimes narrated it as a mursal and other times with a connected chain. He was followed in his isnād by ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAbd al-Wārith: Shuʿbah narrated it to us: it was recorded by Ibn Abī Ḥātim in his "Tafsīr" (3/13/1). This musnad is supported by the fact that it was also followed by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Idrīs from his father from Simāk ibn Ḥarb with it. It was recorded by al-Bayhaqī in "Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah" (5/351) through the route of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal who said: Abū Muʿammar narrated to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Idrīs narrated it to us. I said: And this is a sound isnād according to the criteria of Muslim as well; except for ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, who is reliable, as are those below him. The ḥadīth has supporting narrations: Firstly, from Muʿāwiyah ibn Ḥafṣ who said: Abū Ziyād—meaning Ismāʿīl ibn Zakarīyā—narrated to us from Muḥammad ibn Qays from Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir from Jābir who said: The Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) was asked about His saying: (Then Allāh will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him) (Sūrah al-Māʾidah, verse 54). He said: "These are people from Yemen, then from Kindah, then from al-Sakūn, then from Tajīb." It was also recorded by Ibn Abī Ḥātim, and al-Ṭabarānī in "al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ" (2/232/1414), and he said—and the context is his: "It was not narrated from Muḥammad ibn Qays al-Asadī except by Abū Ziyād, nor from Abū Ziyād except by Muʿāwiyah, and it was uniquely narrated by Abū Ḥumayd."