Then he established a new chapter and said: Chapter 199: "The Chapter on Giving Water to Drink."

The Shaykh : Then he established a new chapter and said: Chapter 199: "The Chapter on Giving Water to Drink." That is, explaining the virtue of giving water to drink. It was narrated with a chain that is authentic in itself, from Ibn Abbas - I think he elevated it - he said: .
This is one of the hadiths that gather and clarify that every good a Muslim does for his Muslim brother, or even for a non-Muslim, or even for animals, all such good is recorded as charity. And I said at the beginning of my reading of this hadith that this hadith is authentic from other chains. This is a technical term in the science of hadith: a hadith is divided into two categories. If the narrators in the chain of a hadith are all trustworthy, preservers, and each one is connected to his companion by his teacher and narrated this hadith from him, then the chain is authentic in itself. However, if it is found that there is some weakness in the chain of a hadith, this weakness obliges the scholar to say that this hadith has a weak chain. But if this hadith comes from another path that does not contain the weakness found in the first chain, then it is said that this hadith, meaning its text, is authentic from other chains, meaning from other than this chain, meaning it is authenticated by other than this chain. And the reality of this hadith is so, because the compiler (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated it from the path of Layth from Tawus from Ibn Abbas. Tawus is one of the leaders of the Tabi'un, so he is too famous to need mention. And below Layth is his teacher, al-Bukhari's teacher, Musaddad, and his teacher's teacher, who is Abdul Wahid. Both are among the trustworthy narrators relied upon in the two Sahihs, or in the Sahih, because Muslim did not narrate from Musaddad. So the chain of this hadith is all trustworthy, from top to bottom, except for this Layth. And this Layth—there are two Layths, one is a trustworthy preserver and the other is weak and confused—and our man here is the second one. As for the trustworthy one, he is Layth ibn Sa'd the Egyptian, who was the peer of Imam Malik in knowledge, precision, and narration, and he is not the one here. As for our man here, he is Layth ibn Abi Sulaym al-Himshi. That one is Egyptian and this one is from Hims. And this one was weak in memory, and in addition to that, he was afflicted with confusion, which means dementia, but dementia of a lesser degree. The type of dementia this hadith scholar and distinguished man had—here is a learned man—but we ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) not to afflict us in the end of our lives as He did. For that reason, the Messenger (peace be upon him) used to supplicate, and he said in his supplication: This is Layth, who was afflicted with confusion and senility. What was he doing? He was from Homs. He would climb up to the minaret of a mosque in Homs and call the adhan for the Dhuhr prayer in the broad daylight, in the middle of the day, between Fajr and Dhuhr. He would climb the minaret and give a lawful adhan... The poor man, from the Dhuhr prayer onward, he did not do it anymore, but in his heart he was a righteous man... However, before the confusion, his memory was weak, and on top of that, as they say, it was a straw on a camel's load, for he was struck with senility when he grew old. Therefore, the scholars of hadith rule that every hadith this man narrates uniquely is a weak hadith. But this hadith of ours came through a route other than Layth's, so I published it in *Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah* with a chain other than this chain, and every part of it is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) through a route other than this Layth, who is ibn Abi Sulaym. And what indicates to the critical researcher his weakness is that the narrator from him said: Layth narrated to us from Tawus from Ibn Abbas, "I think he elevated it." This is Layth's doubt. Layth doubted whether Ibn Abbas elevated the hadith to the Messenger. That is, Layth was wondering: did the Messenger mention it? He said Ibn Abbas, who narrated this hadith, said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said... Or did he not mention the Messenger at all, but only said Ibn Abbas said so and so? Layth is in doubt. And this is a natural thing given the weakness of his memory and his confusion in the last part of his life.