Note / Clarification: In the manuscripts this name was corrupted and written as "Hakim".

Note / Clarification: In the manuscripts this name was corrupted and written as "'Abd Allah" (in the non-diminutive form), whereas the correct name ('Ubayd Allah) is established from the book "Ithaf al-Maharah" (15606) and the sources of his biography.

Note / Clarification: It is like this in manuscript (K), whereas in manuscripts (Z) and (B) it is "sultanah", and in manuscript (M) a blank space (bayad) has been left in its place.

Note / Clarification: In the manuscripts this word was corrupted and written as "satat", and in al-Dhahabi's "al-Talkhis" as "asatat". Its correction was made from the books of gharib al-hadith (rare words in hadith), and its (ashatat's) meaning is: it became distant (ba'udat).

Note / Clarification: The text is like this in al-Dhahabi's "al-Talkhis", whereas in manuscripts (Z), (K) and (B) it is "wa-istahallat al-haram", and in manuscript (M) "wa-istahallat al-hara'im", and hara'im is the plural of "harim"!

Grading: Its chain is "wahin" (extremely weak). Abu Hatim said about Sa'id bin Hubayrah: he is not strong, and Ibn Hibban in "al-Majruhin" accused him of wad' (fabricating hadith). And there is agreement on the weakness of 'Abd al-'Aziz bin 'Ubayd Allah; al-Dhahabi declared him wahin (very weak) in "al-Kashif".

Reference / Source: Nu'aym bin Hammad narrated its first part in "al-Fitan" (236) via the route of Sa'id bin Sinan, from Abu al-Zahiriyyah, from Kathir bin Murrah al-Hadrami, from Ibn 'Umar, from 'Umar.
Technical note / Defect ('illah): Sa'id bin Sinan (who is the Syrian, with the kunyah Abu Mahdi al-Hanafi) is "matruk" (abandoned); al-Daraqutni and others accused him of fabricating hadith.

Reference / Source: Al-Baghandi narrated it in "Musnad 'Umar bin 'Abd al-'Aziz" (48) via the route of 'Umar bin 'Abd al-'Aziz, from Abu Bakr bin 'Abd al-Rahman bin al-Harith, from his father, from 'Umar.
Technical note / Defect ('illah): In its chain is the author's (al-Baghandi's) shaykh "al-Nadr bin Salamah al-Marwazi", whom Abu Hatim al-Razi, al-Daraqutni and other imams accused of fabricating hadith.

Reference / Source: Abu Nu'aym al-Asbahani narrated it in "Tarikh Asbahan" (1/ 208) via Isma'il bin 'Amr, from Sufyan al-Thawri, from 'Amr bin 'Abd Allah, from Sa'id bin al-Musayyab, from 'Umar bin al-Khattab, as marfu' and abridged.
Grading: Isma'il bin 'Amr (who is Ibn Najih al-Bajali) was declared weak by al-Daraqutni and Ibn 'Adi, and (Ibn 'Adi) said: he narrated from Sufyan and others hadiths in which he is not corroborated.

Corroborating chains and supporting reports: This part is supported (as a shahid) by the marfu' hadith of Ibn 'Abbas, which al-Tabarani narrated in "al-Kabir" (11138) via Ahmad bin al-Nadr al-'Askari, from Sa'id bin Hafs al-Nufayli, from Musa bin A'yan, from Abu Shihab, from Fitr bin Khalifah, from Mujahid, from Ibn 'Abbas, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The beginning of this affair (religion/rule) is prophethood and mercy, then there will be caliphate and mercy, then there will be kingship and mercy, then there will be emirate and mercy; then they will bite one another over it as donkeys bite one another. So hold fast to jihad, and your best jihad is ribat (guarding the frontier), and your best ribat is 'Asqalan."
Grading: There is no harm in the narrators of this chain (la ba'sa bihim) except "Sa'id bin Hafs al-Nufayli", who is alone in it. He is "saduq" (truthful) in himself, but at the end of his life he grew old and his memory changed, as Abu 'Arubah al-Harrani said in "Kitab Ahl al-Jazirah" (as related by Mughaltay in "Ikmal Tahdhib al-Kamal", 5/ 277); so it is feared that he made an error somewhere in its chain.
Note / Clarification: Abu Shihab is "'Abd Rabbih bin Nafi' al-Hannat"; in the printed edition of al-Tabarani this name was mistakenly printed as "Ibn Shihab".

Note / Clarification: "Takadum al-hamir" means: donkeys biting one another with their teeth.

Note / Clarification: In explaining the second part, al-Zamakhshari says in "al-Fa'iq" (1/ 378): "al-khadir" means green and fresh. "Al-thumam" is a weak plant. "Al-rumam" refers to dry, broken grass … and "hutam" of anything means its crushed fragments. The meaning is: hold fast to military expeditions (jihad); because of the justice of the rulers in distributing the fay' (spoils), and the help that Allah sends down, and the conquests made easy through the blessing of the righteous, it is like fruit at the time of its freshness and sweetness, free of blights, before it gradually declines into weakness until it resembles crushed, dried-up chaff.

Note / Clarification: "Al-ribat" means murabatah, i.e. staying at the frontier posts to guard against the enemies.