Sunan Abi Dawud 4611

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?”’