narrated this hadith from Shabīb b. Shayba except Abū Muʿāwiya." End quote.

In its chain of transmission is Shabīb b. Shayba, who was declared weak by Ibn Maʿīn, al-Nasāʾī, al-Dāraquṭnī, and al-Barqānī, and Abū Dāwūd said: "He is nothing." [Tahdhīb al-Kamāl (12/362-364)].

He was contradicted by someone more reliable than him, who narrated the hadith as mursal from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, and he is Juwayriya b. Bashīr. Al-Tirmidhī narrated it in Al-ʿIlal (2/918), saying: "I asked Muḥammad [meaning: al-Bukhārī] about this hadith, and he did not know it except from the hadith of Abū Muʿāwiya.

Muḥammad said: 'Mūsā b. Ismāʿīl narrated this hadith from Juwayriya b. Bashīr, from al-Ḥasan, from the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, as mursal.'

Abū ʿĪsā said: 'And the hadith of al-Ḥasan from ʿImrān b. Ḥuṣayn regarding this is more likely and more authentic in my view. And this hadith has been narrated through other than this route...'" End quote.

It was also narrated by al-Aṣbahānī in Al-Ḥujja fī Bayān al-Maḥajja (54).

The hadith has corroborating reports and supporting evidences that strengthen it; among them:

What al-Bazzār narrated in his Musnad (9/53/3580) via the route of al-ʿAbbās b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān from ʿImrān b. Ḥuṣayn, may God be pleased with both of them.

What Aḥmad narrated in his Musnad (4/444), Ibn Abī Shayba (267-268), and al-Nasāʾī in ʿAmal al-Yawm wa-al-Layla (994). He said in Al-Iṣāba (2/86): "Its chain of transmission is Sahih (Authentic)."

What ʿAbd b. Ḥumayd (476) narrated, as well as Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim in Al-Āḥād wa-al-Mathānī (2355), al-Nasāʾī in ʿAmal al-Yawm wa-al-Layla (993), Ibn Ḥibbān in his Ṣaḥīḥ (899), and al-Ḥākim in Al-Mustadrak (1/510).

And what Ibn Khuzayma narrated in Al-Tawḥīd (1/277/177).

Al-Dārimī, may Allah have mercy on him, said in Al-Naqḍ (p. 68): "The Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, did not object to the disbeliever when he recognized the Lord of the worlds as being in the heaven, as the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, said. Thus, Ḥuṣayn al-Khuzāʿī, in his disbelief at that time, was more knowledgeable of Allah, the Majestic and Most Exalted, than al-Marīsī and his companions, despite their professing Islam, since he distinguished between the Creator God who is in the heaven, and the created gods and idols that are on earth." End quote.