Silsilah Sahihah

Note: This very text «ما ضحك ميكائيل منذ خلقت النار» (Isma'il ibn 'Ayyash from 'Umarah ibn Ghaziyyah from Humayd ibn 'Ubayd from Thabit al-Bunani from Anas ibn Malik), was declared weak (da'if) by Shaykh al-Albani rahimahullah in his book Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Da'ifah wa al-Mawdu'ah (around number 4454, and also in Da'if al-Jami' al-Saghir around number 107).

The reasons for weakness as stated by Shaykh al-Albani:

Isma'il ibn 'Ayyash's narration from Madinan narrators (such as 'Umarah ibn Ghaziyyah, who is Madinan) is weak. The hadith scholars are agreed that Isma'il ibn 'Ayyash's narration from the Syrians (Shamis) is good, but from the Hijazis and Madinans, there are denounced narrations (munkarat/errors). This weakness is agreed upon, and al-Haythami also said: "Ahmad narrated it from the narration of Isma'il ibn 'Ayyash from the Madinans, and it is weak."

Humayd ibn 'Ubayd (mawla of Banu al-Mu'alla) is of unknown status (majhul al-hal). Hafiz Ibn Hajar said in "al-Ta'jil": "It is not known who he is" (i.e., it is not known who he is). Merely stating that he is Madinan and from the mawali of the Ansar is identification, not authentication, and does not remove the weakness.

These two defects (causes of weakness) render this chain weak, so al-'Iraqi's statement "its chain is good" and al-Suyuti's grading it as hasan are mistakes, as al-Albani has explained in detail.

Note: This weak chain is different from the authentic chain narrated by (Ibn 'Umar in al-Silsilah al-Sahihah 2511, which is authentic). The texts of both are the same, but the chains are different. The weak one (from Anas ibn Malik) has, in some places, been called hasan li ghayrihi due to supporting narrations, but al-Albani kept this specific route as weak because the defects are clear.

This research is based on al-Albani's books (Silsilat al-Da'ifah, Da'if al-Jami', and other takhrij works).