Model Behavior of the Prophet (Kitab Al-Sunnah)

Wahb ibn Baqiyyah narrated to us, from Khalid, from Muhammad ibn Amr, from Abu Salamah, from Abu Hurayrah, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: The Jews split into seventy-one or seventy-two sects, the Christians split into seventy-one or seventy-two sects, and my community will split into seventy-three sects.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Muhammad ibn Yahya narrated to us: Abu al-Mughirah narrated to us: Safwan narrated to us. (A second chain:) Amr ibn Uthman narrated to us: Baqiyyah narrated to us: Safwan told me a similar report. He said: Azhar ibn Abdullah al-Harazi narrated to me, from Abu Amir al-Hawzani, from Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, who stood among us and said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood among us and said: The People of the Book before you split into seventy-two religious communities, and this community will split into seventy-three. Seventy-two will be in the Fire and one in Paradise: the united community. Ibn Yahya and Amr add in their reports: Groups will emerge from my community, carried along by those desires as rabies spreads through a person. Amr said: Like rabies in a person; it leaves no vein or joint without entering it.

Al-Qanabi narrated to us: Yazid ibn Ibrahim al-Tustari narrated to us, from Abdullah ibn Abi Mulaykah, from al-Qasim ibn Muhammad, from Aishah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ recited this verse: He is the One who sent down the Book to you; in it are verses that are clear ... through the words: people of understanding. Aishah said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ then said: When you see those who follow what is ambiguous in it, those are the ones Allah has named, so beware of them.

Musaddad narrated to us; Khalid ibn Abdullah narrated to us; Yazid ibn Abi Ziyad narrated to us, from Mujahid, from a man, from Abu Dharr, who said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘The best of deeds is love for Allah's sake and hatred for Allah's sake.’

Ibn al-Sarh narrated to us; Ibn Wahb informed us; he said: Yunus informed us, from Ibn Shihab, who said: Abd al-Rahman ibn Abdullah ibn Ka'b ibn Malik informed me that Abdullah ibn Ka'b—who used to lead his father Ka'b among his sons after he became blind—said: I heard Ka'b ibn Malik. Ibn al-Sarh mentioned the account of Ka'b's staying behind the Prophet (ﷺ) on the Tabuk expedition. He said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade the Muslims to speak to the three of us. When this lasted a long time for me, I climbed over the wall into the garden of Abu Qatadah, my cousin, and greeted him. By Allah, he did not return my greeting. Then he related the account of the revelation concerning his repentance.

Musa ibn Isma'il narrated to us; Hammad narrated to us; Ata al-Khurasani informed us, from Yahya ibn Ya'mar, from Ammar ibn Yasir, who said: I came to my family with my hands cracked, and they applied saffron to me. I went to the Prophet (ﷺ), greeted him, but he did not return my greeting. He said: ‘Go and wash this off you.’

Musa ibn Isma'il narrated to us; Hammad narrated to us, from Thabit al-Bunani, from Sumayyah, from A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her): Safiyyah bint Huyayy's camel became ill, while Zaynab had an extra mount. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to Zaynab: ‘Give her a camel.’ She said: ‘Should I give one to that Jewish woman?’ The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) became angry with her and shunned her during Dhu al-Hijjah, Muharram, and part of Safar.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated to us; Yazid—meaning Ibn Harun—narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Amr informed us, from Abu Salamah, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet (ﷺ), who said: ‘Disputing about the Qur'an is disbelief.’

Abd al-Wahhab ibn Najdah narrated to us; Abu Amr ibn Kathir ibn Dinar narrated to us, from Hariz ibn Uthman, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Awf, from al-Miqdam ibn Ma'dikarib, from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), who said: ‘Indeed, I have been given the Book and something like it along with it. Soon a well-fed man reclining on his couch will say: “Adhere to this Qur'an. Whatever you find in it that is lawful, deem lawful; and whatever you find in it that is forbidden, deem forbidden.” Indeed, the meat of domestic donkeys is not lawful for you, nor is every predator with fangs, nor property lost by a person under covenant—unless its owner has no further need of it. Whoever lodges with a people, they must offer him hospitality; if they do not, he may take from them an amount equivalent to the hospitality due to him.’

Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal and Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Nufayli narrated to us; they both said: Sufyan narrated to us, from Abu al-Nadr, from Ubaydullah ibn Abi Rafi, from his father, from the Prophet (ﷺ), who said: ‘Let me not find any of you reclining on his couch when a command of mine—something I have commanded or forbidden—comes to him, and he says: “We do not know; we follow only what we find in the Book of Allah.”’

Muhammad ibn al-Sabbah al-Bazzaz narrated to us; Ibrahim ibn Sa'd narrated to us; ḥāʾ; and Muhammad ibn Isa narrated to us; Abdullah ibn Ja'far al-Makhrami narrated to us, as did Ibrahim ibn Sa'd, from Sa'd ibn Ibrahim, from al-Qasim ibn Muhammad, from A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), who said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘Whoever introduces into this affair of ours something that does not belong to it, it is rejected.’ Ibn Isa said: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: ‘Whoever does something contrary to our affair, it is rejected.’

Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated to us; al-Walid ibn Muslim narrated to us; Thawr ibn Yazid narrated to us and said: Khalid ibn Ma'dan narrated to me; Abd al-Rahman ibn Amr al-Sulami and Hujr ibn Hujr both said: We went to al-Irbad ibn Sariyah, one of those concerning whom the verse was revealed: ‘Nor is there blame on those who, when they came to you for mounts, you said: “I have nothing on which to mount you.”’ We greeted him and said: ‘We have come to visit you, call on you, and seek knowledge from you.’ Al-Irbad said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) led us in prayer one day, then turned to us and gave us a powerful admonition that brought tears to the eyes and made hearts tremble. Someone said: ‘Messenger of Allah, this sounds like the admonition of one taking leave. What charge do you entrust to us?’ He said: ‘I enjoin you to be mindful of Allah, and to listen and obey, even if [your leader is] an Abyssinian slave. Whoever among you lives after me will see much disagreement. So hold fast to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs; cling firmly to it and bite down on it with your molars. Beware of newly introduced matters, for every newly introduced matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance.’

Musaddad narrated to us; Yahya narrated to us, from Ibn Jurayj, who said: Sulayman—meaning Ibn Atiq—narrated to me, from Talq ibn Habib, from al-Ahnaf ibn Qays, from Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, from the Prophet (ﷺ), who said: ‘Indeed, those who go to extremes have perished.’ He said it three times.

Yahya ibn Ayyub narrated to us; Isma'il—meaning Ibn Ja'far—said: al-Ala—meaning Ibn Abd al-Rahman—informed me, from his father, from Abu Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward like the rewards of those who follow him, without their rewards being diminished in the least. And whoever calls to error will bear a sin like the sins of those who follow him, without their sins being diminished in the least.’

Uthman ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us; Sufyan narrated to us, from al-Zuhri, from Amir ibn Sa'd, from his father, who said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘The gravest offender among Muslims is the one who asks about something that has not been forbidden, and it is then forbidden to people because of his question.’

Yazid ibn Khalid ibn Abdullah ibn Mawhab al-Hamdani narrated to us; al-Layth narrated to us, from Uqayl, from Ibn Shihab, that Abu Idris al-Khawlani—A'id Allah—informed him that Yazid ibn Umayrah, one of the companions of Mu'adh ibn Jabal, informed him: Whenever Yazid sat in a gathering of remembrance, he would say: ‘Allah is an equitable judge; those who doubt have perished.’ One day Mu'adh ibn Jabal said: ‘After you there will be trials in which wealth becomes abundant and the Qur'an is widely taken up, until the believer and the hypocrite, men and women, young and old, slaves and free people, all take it up. Soon someone will say: “Why do people not follow me when I have read the Qur'an?” They will not follow me until I introduce something new for them besides it. So beware of what is newly introduced, for what is newly introduced is misguidance. I warn you against the deviation of a wise person, for Satan may speak a word of misguidance on the tongue of a wise person, and a hypocrite may speak a word of truth.’ I said to Mu'adh: ‘May Allah have mercy on you, how can I know that a wise person may speak a word of misguidance and a hypocrite may speak a word of truth?’ He replied: ‘Indeed. Among the words of a wise person, avoid those conspicuous statements that make people say, “What is this?” But do not let that turn you away from him, for perhaps he will reconsider. Accept the truth when you hear it, for the truth has a light.’ Abu Dawud said: Ma'mar, from al-Zuhri, transmitted in this report the wording ‘do not let that distance you from him’ instead of ‘do not let that turn you away from him.’ Salih ibn Kaysan, from al-Zuhri, transmitted ‘ambiguous matters’ instead of ‘conspicuous statements,’ and said ‘do not let that turn you away,’ as Uqayl did. Ibn Ishaq, from al-Zuhri, said: ‘Indeed, whatever in a wise person's words is unclear to you, [question it] until you say, “What did he mean by this statement?”’

Muhammad ibn Kathir narrated to us; he said: Sufyan narrated to us. A man wrote to Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz asking him about divine decree. Ḥāʾ; al-Rabi' ibn Sulayman al-Mu'adhdhin narrated to us; he said: Asad ibn Musa narrated to us; he said: Hammad ibn Dalil narrated to us; he said: I heard Sufyan al-Thawri narrating to us from al-Nadr. Ḥāʾ; Hannad ibn al-Sari narrated to us, from Qabisah, who said: Abu Raja narrated to us, from Abu al-Salt—this is the wording of Ibn Kathir's report, and their meanings are the same—who said: A man wrote to Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz asking him about divine decree, and he wrote: ‘To proceed: I counsel you to be mindful of Allah, to be moderate in His command, to follow the Sunnah of His Prophet (ﷺ), and to abandon what innovators have introduced after his Sunnah had been established and its burden borne. You must cling to the Sunnah, for by Allah's permission it is a protection for you. Know that people have never introduced an innovation without something preceding it that serves as evidence against it or a lesson in it. The Sunnah was established by those who knew the error, slip, foolishness, and excess involved in opposing it. (Ibn Kathir's wording omits: “those who knew.”) Be content with what the people were content with, for they stopped on the basis of knowledge, refrained with clear insight, were stronger in uncovering matters, and were more entitled by virtue of what they possessed. If the guidance you follow is correct, then you have outstripped them to it. And if you claim that whatever arose after them was introduced only by people who followed a path other than theirs and turned away from them, then they were the ones who went before. They spoke enough about it and described it in a way that suffices. Those who fall short of them have no excuse, and those who go beyond them exhaust themselves. Some people fell short of them and were negligent; others went beyond them and exceeded the bounds. Yet they were on straight guidance between those extremes. You wrote asking about affirming divine decree; by Allah's permission, you have asked one who knows about it. I know of no innovation people have introduced that is clearer in evidence or more firmly established than affirming divine decree. In the ignorant pre-Islamic age people spoke of it in their speech and poetry, consoling themselves for what they had missed. Islam only strengthened this belief thereafter. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) mentioned it in more than one or two reports. The Muslims heard it from him and spoke of it during his lifetime and after his death, with certainty and submission to their Lord, and acknowledging their own inability to suppose that anything could escape His knowledge, go unrecorded in His register, or fall outside His decree. Even so, it is stated plainly in His decisive Book: they drew it from the Book and learned it from the Book. If you ask, “Why did Allah reveal such-and-such a verse? Why did He say such-and-such?” they read from it what you read and knew its interpretation, of which you are ignorant. After all that, they said: “All of this is by the Book and the decree. Misfortune has been written down; whatever is decreed will come to pass. Whatever Allah wills happens, and whatever He does not will does not happen. We have no power to bring harm or benefit upon ourselves.” After that, they continued to hope and to fear.’

Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: ‘Abd Allah ibn Yazid narrated to us: Sa‘id—meaning Ibn Abi Ayyub—narrated to us: Abu Sakhr informed me, from Nafi‘, who said: Ibn ‘Umar had a friend from Syria with whom he corresponded. ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umar wrote to him: ‘I have heard that you have discussed something concerning divine decree. Do not write to me about it, for I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say, “Among my community there will be people who deny divine decree.”’

Abdullah ibn al-Jarrah narrated to us; he said: Hammad ibn Zayd narrated to us, from Khalid al-Hadhdha, who said: I asked al-Hasan, ‘Abu Sa‘id, tell me about Adam: was he created for heaven or for earth?’ He said, ‘No; rather, for earth.’ I said, ‘What do you think: if he had held fast and not eaten from the tree?’ He said, ‘He had no alternative.’ I said, ‘Tell me about the words of the Exalted: “You cannot lead anyone into temptation concerning Him, except one who is to burn in the Blaze.”’ He said, ‘The devils lead astray by their misguidance only those whom Allah has decreed for them the Blaze.’