"It was narrated by al-Bazzār and al-Ṭabarānī, and its isnād is good." Likewise, it was deemed good by the ḥāfiẓ in "Mukhtaṣar al-Zawāʾid" (2/366). They overlooked Ibn Isḥāq's use of 'anʿanah, and they should have noted his explicit declaration of transmission in Aḥmad's earlier narration, but it was decreed as such. There is no difference between it and the narration of others; it is possible to reconcile them by combining what is in one with the other. It is said: The other man asked what the first asked and added that he also asked about those who believed in him (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) and did not see him. The essence of the answer is: Blessed are those who saw me, and blessed, then blessed, then blessed are those who did not see me. This is what the knowledge of (Mukhtalif al-Ḥadīth) requires. And Allāh knows best. Ibn Lahīʿah narrated something of that with a contradiction to Ibn Isḥāq in his isnād. Ibn Lahīʿah said: from Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb from Bukayr ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ashajj from Bayhas al-Thaqafī from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAmrah al-Anṣārī from his father—I do not know this except—from the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam): It was said to him: O Messenger of Allāh! What about those who believed in you and did not see you, and affirmed you and did not see you? What do they have? He said: "Blessed are they (twice), they are from us, they are from us." It was narrated by al-Ṭabarānī in "al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr" (1/182/576). And he also narrated it in "al-Awsaṭ" (9/283/8619) through another route from Ibn Lahīʿah who said: Bukayr ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ashajj narrated it to me; he omitted Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb! Perhaps this is from the confusions of Ibn Lahīʿah