Al-Dhahabi stated in al-‘Arsh (2/121): “This hadith is authentic according to a group of Hadith scholars. Al-Hafiz Diya’ al-Din al-Maqdisi recorded it in his al-Sahih [al-Mukhtarah], and it meets the criteria of Ibn Hibban, though I do not know if he [Ibn Hibban] actually recorded it or not. For his view was that if a reliable memorizer (‘adl hafiz) narrates from a man who is not known for disparagement (jarh), then that chain of transmission is authentic.”
Thus, if these Imams—Abu Ishaq al-Sabi‘i, al-Thawri, al-A‘mash, Isra’il, ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi, Abu Ahmad al-Zubayri, Waki‘, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and others whose mention and number would be extensive, who are the lamps of guidance and the lanterns in the darkness—have received this hadith with acceptance, narrated it, did not reject it, and did not impugn its chain of transmission, then who are we to reject it and act with pedantry toward them?!
Furthermore, the narration of ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi of this hadith serves as a form of validation (tawthiq) for its narrators, as is well known.
Know that most of the People of the Sunnah who spoke regarding [this hadith] only did so due to a defect in its chain of transmission (isnad); they did not target its text (matn) with impugnment or claims of it being anomalous (nakarah).
As for those who declared it defective by citing the anomaly of its text, most of them are Jahmites who deny the [Divine] Attributes, and those who followed their path from among those influenced by them or those who were deluded by their own intellects and did not yield the reins to the People of the Sunnah. And Allah is the one whose help is sought.
