= Uways narrated from Abu Bakr ʿAbd al-Hamid, from Ibn Abi Dhib, from Saʿid al-Maqburi, from Abu Hurayra. It is also recorded in Tarikh Dimashq, 19/16/1. The scholars explain that the “container” whose contents he did not divulge refers to the reports that expose corrupt rulers, their conduct and the period in which they will appear. Abu Hurayra would hint at some of these reports without stating them openly, fearing for his life. He would say, for instance, “I seek refuge in Allah from the beginning of the sixties and from the rule of youngsters,” alluding to the caliphate of Yazid ibn Muʿawiya, which began in the year 60 AH. Allah answered his prayer, for Abu Hurayra died one year before that date. Ibn al-Munir remarked: Some people have turned this hadith into a pretext for validating their false claim that the sharia possesses an outer and an inner layer; their claim is nothing but a loosening of religious commitment. Abu Hurayra’s statement “they would cut (my head)” means that the tyrannical rulers would behead him if they heard his criticism of their deeds and his denunciation of their efforts. This is supported by the fact that, had the concealed reports contained legal rulings, he would not have been permitted to withhold them. (1) Tarikh Dimashq, 19/116/2. (2) Tarikh Dimashq, 19/116/2. (3) Reported by al-Bukhari, 1/199, Book of Knowledge, chapter “One who singles out a people with knowledge to the exclusion of others out of fear that they may not understand,” stopping before the words: “and leave what they disapprove.” The report is also found with Adam ibn Abi Iyas in his Kitab al-ʿIlm. Al-Hafiz wrote in Fath al-Bari: This shows that ambiguous material should not be presented to the general public. Comparable is Ibn Masʿud’s saying: “Whenever you relate to people a narration their minds cannot grasp, it becomes a trial for some of them,” recorded by Muslim in the introduction to his Sahih, 1/11.