Al-Ruyani narrated it with this wording in his Musnad (2/471), and its chain of narration contains weakness. The origin of the hadith, without the mention of “sitting” (al-julus), is recorded by Ahmad in his Musnad (3/495), and by al-Bukhari as a suspended report (mu‘allaq) in his Sahih, and in al-Adab al-Mufrad (970), Ibn Abi ‘Asim in al-Ahad wa al-Mathani (4/79), and al-Hakim (4/574); and it is an authentic (sahih) hadith.
[Recorded by al-Tirmidhi (2549), Ibn Majah (4336), Ibn Abi ‘Asim in al-Sunnah (598), al-Ajurri in al-Shari‘ah (599), and Ibn Hibban in his Sahih (7438).
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) stated in Hadi al-Arwah (1/571-573): “Recorded by al-Tirmidhi in the section on the Description of Paradise, from Muhammad ibn Isma‘il, from Hisham ibn ‘Ammar. There is no one in this chain of narration whose status requires scrutiny except for ‘Abd al-Hamid ibn Habib, the scribe of al-Awza‘i. We do not reject his solitary reporting from al-Awza‘i of what others did not narrate, for Imam Ahmad and Abu Hatim al-Razi both said: ‘He is trustworthy.’ As for Duhaym and al-Nasa’i, they weakened him. It is not known that he narrated from anyone other than al-Awza‘i. Al-Tirmidhi said: ‘This hadith is singular (gharib); we only know it through this route.’” End quote from Ibn al-Qayyim.
I say: It was also narrated by Ibn Abi al-Dunya on the authority of al-Hakam ibn Musa: Hiql ibn Ziyad narrated to us, from al-Awza‘i, who said: ‘I was informed that Sa‘id ibn al-Musayyib met Abu Hurayrah...’ and he mentioned the report. End quote.]
