(1) Abu Salih is Abd Allah ibn Salih al-Misri, the scribe of al-Layth; he had a weak memory, whereas the remaining transmitters are reliable. Abu Dawud also recorded the report (no. 4904) in the Book of Manners, chapter “Envy,” through the chain: Ahmad ibn Salih – Abd Allah ibn Wahb – Sa id ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi al-Umayya – Sahl ibn Abi Umama, who said: He and his father visited Anas ibn Malik in Madinah while Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz was its governor. They found Anas performing a very brief prayer, almost like the prayer of a traveller. When he finished, Sahl’s father asked, “May Allah have mercy on you: was that the obligatory prayer or a voluntary one?” Anas replied, “It was the obligatory prayer, and it is exactly how the Messenger of Allah performed it; I left out nothing except what I inadvertently forgot.” He then related that the Prophet used to say: “Do not impose rigor on yourselves lest it be imposed on you. A people once imposed rigor on themselves, so their survivors ended up secluded in monasteries and cells—‘monasticism they invented; We did not prescribe it for them’ (Q 57:27).” The next day Anas said, “Shall we ride out so that you may see and take heed?” They agreed, and when they reached some deserted dwellings whose inhabitants had perished and whose roofs had collapsed, Anas asked, “Do you recognise these ruins?” I replied, “Indeed I do and I know their people: they are the dwellings of a nation destroyed by tyranny and envy. Envy extinguishes the light of good deeds, and tyranny either confirms or disproves that. The eye commits zina, and so do the hand, the foot, the body, and the tongue; the private parts then confirm it or deny it.” Sa id ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi al-Umayya is listed by Ibn Hibban among the trustworthy narrators, although only two people relate from him; the rest of the transmitters are reliable. Ibn Kathir cites the hadith in his Tafsir 4/316 through Abu Ya la from Ahmad ibn Isa with the same chain. (2) The chain is sound. The report appears in Ibn Sa d, Tabaqat 3/472, and was also transmitted by Abd al-Razzaq (no. 6403), al-Tahawi 1/287, al-Hakim 3/409, and al-Bayhaqi 4/36, where the wording continues: “He then turned to us and said as though he were a veteran of Badr.” (3) Ibn Sa d, Tabaqat 3/473.