Dua 1
سَجَدَ وَجْهِيَ لِلَّذِيْ خَلَقَهٗ وَشَقَّ سَمْعَهٗ وَبَصَرَهٗ بِحَوْلِهٖ وَقُوَّتِهٖ ﴿فَتَبَارَكَ اللّٰهُ اَحْسَنُ الْخَالِقِيْنَ﴾
My face has prostrated to the One who created it, and by His might and power He opened its hearing and its sight. So blessed is Allah, the best of creators.
Sahih, al-Mustadrak of al-Hakim, Indian edition (1/220), the wording is his, Sunan at-Tirmidhi, no. (580), Sunan an-Nasa'i, no. (1129), and al-Albani graded it Sahih, except for the verse, in “Sahih Abi Dawud” (5/157) no. (1273).
A clarification:
Imam Ahmad (RH) (died 241) said: “ما أرى خالدا الحذاء سمع من أبي العالية شيئا”, “I do not think that Khalid al-Hadhdha' heard anything from Abu al-Aliyah” [Masa'il Ahmad, narration of Abu Dawud: page (446)]
On the basis of this statement of Imam Ahmad (RH), about ten years ago the present writer called this hadith Da'eef. Although Imam Ahmad (RH) had not denied the hearing with certainty, no firm proof to the contrary could be found from any other hadith scholar either, so we accepted as proof even this remark of Imam Ahmad (RH), made in the form of a supposition. But recently we learned that Imam Shu'bah (RH), a hadith critic and Amir al-Mu'minin of hadith, has provided proof that Khalid al-Hadhdha' heard from Abu al-Aliyah. Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (RH) narrated with his own chain, through the route of Wahb bin Jarir, that he said:
“نا شعبة، عن خالد الحذاء ، عن رفيع أبي العالية، قال: إذا حدثت عن رسول الله ﷺ فازدهر” [al-Jami' li-Akhlaq ar-Rawi (2/9) through the route of Wahb bin Jarir from Shu'bah with this chain, and its chain is sahih; Ibn Battah narrated it in al-Ibanah (1/410) through the route of 'Amr bin Marzuq; ar-Ramahurmuzi narrated it in al-Muhaddith al-Fasil (page 585) through the route of al-Hasan bin Habib and Abu Dawud; al-Bayhaqi narrated it in Shu'ab al-Iman (3/154) through the route of Miskin bin Bukayr al-Harrani and Abu Dawud; and through al-Bayhaqi's route Ibn Asakir narrated it in Tarikh Dimashq (18/178); all of them (Wahb bin Jarir, 'Amr bin Marzuq, al-Hasan bin Habib, Abu Dawud and Miskin bin Bukayr) narrate it from Shu'bah with this chain]
In this chain Imam Shu'bah (RH) narrates from Khalid al-Hadhdha', and he from Abu al-Aliyah. This is strong proof that Khalid al-Hadhdha' heard from Abu al-Aliyah, because Imam Shu'bah (RH) narrates only from someone who heard from his teacher what he narrates. Imam Yahya bin Sa'id al-Qattan (RH), a contemporary of Imam Shu'bah (RH) who knew him very closely, said:
“كل شيء يحدث به شعبة عن رجل فلا تحتاج أن تقول عن ذاك الرجل أنه سمع فلانا، قد كفاك أمره”
“Whatever Shu'bah narrates from any narrator, you do not need to find out whether that narrator heard from the one he narrates from, because Shu'bah's narrating from him is itself enough to prove it” [al-Jarh wa at-Ta'dil of Ibn Abi Hatim, ed. al-Mu'allimi (1/162), and its chain is sahih]
Against this strong evidence for the hearing, Imam Ahmad's (RH) remark in the form of a supposition carries no weight. Note that in secondary references such as at-Tahdhib, this supposition of Imam Ahmad (RH) is quoted as if it were certain, which is wrong, because it goes against the original source. And even if it were established as certain, it would not deserve attention against a specialist in hearing such as Imam Shu'bah (RH).
As for one narration having “a man” as an intermediary, the reply is that this narration with the intermediary is mudtarib and shadh, so it is not established at all. For its explanation and the completion of this discussion see: Anwar an-Nasihah (d/1414)