حَدَّثَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ، عَنْ مَالِكِ بْنِ أَنَسٍ، فِيمَا قُرِئَ عَلَيْهِ ح وَحَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ، يَحْيَى قَالَ قَرَأْتُ عَلَى مَالِكٍ عَنِ ابْنِ شِهَابٍ، عَنْ عُرْوَةَ بْنِ الزُّبَيْرِ، عَنْ عَائِشَةَ، زَوْجِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَنَّهَا قَالَتْ مَا خُيِّرَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم بَيْنَ أَمْرَيْنِ إِلاَّ أَخَذَ أَيْسَرَهُمَا مَا لَمْ يَكُنْ إِثْمًا فَإِنْ كَانَ إِثْمًا كَانَ أَبْعَدَ النَّاسِ مِنْهُ وَمَا انْتَقَمَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم لِنَفْسِهِ إِلاَّ أَنْ تُنْتَهَكَ حُرْمَةُ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ ‏.‏
Translation

The above hadith has been narrated through several other chains of transmitters.

Comment

The Book of Virtues - Sahih Muslim 2327 b

The hadith concerning virtues has been transmitted through multiple authentic chains of narration, which strengthens its authenticity and reliability according to classical Islamic scholarship.

Scholarly Commentary

Multiple transmission chains (turuq) indicate the hadith's widespread acceptance among early traditionists and enhance its probative value in legal and theological matters.

This multiplicity of transmission routes, known as "tawatur" in hadith sciences, provides strong evidence against fabrication and confirms the Prophet's actual utterance of these words.

Classical scholars like Imam Nawawi emphasized that such corroborated narrations carry the highest degree of authenticity and should form the basis for Islamic practice and belief.

Legal Implications

The existence of multiple transmission chains elevates the ruling derived from this hadith to the level of definitive knowledge (qat'i) in matters where the text is clear and unambiguous.

Scholars from all major schools of jurisprudence give precedence to such well-attested narrations when deriving legal rulings and ethical guidelines.