How authentic is the story of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, meeting the delegation of Banu 'Amir ibn Sa'sa'ah, their asking him about the matter of succession after him, and his reply: "The matter belongs to Allah; He places it wherever He wills"?

The early scholars did not rule on the authenticity or weakness of this report from the accounts of the Sira. Their methodology was one of leniency regarding Sira reports, as long as they did not contain severe denunciation (nakara shadida) or clear contradiction. This is because such reports do not pertain to legal rulings (ahkam shari'ah), and they encompass the sound, the ailing, the weak, the "balagh," the "mursal," the "munqati'," and the "mu'dal," but not the fabricated (mawdu').