—he said, “It refers to the hypocrite: he never covets a thing without plunging into it.” (1)
Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab ibn al-Hubab, the scribe, informed us; ʿAli ibn Mukhtar informed us; Abu Tahir al-Silafi informed us; al-Qasim ibn al-Fadl likewise informed us, as did Ismaʿil ibn al-Farraʾ; Abu Muhammad ibn Qudamah informed us; Shuhdah al-Ibariyyah and Tajanni al-Wahbaniyyah both reported:
Tirad al-Zaynabi informed us, saying: Hilaal ibn Muhammad al-Haffar narrated to us; al-Husayn ibn Yahya al-Qattan informed us; Abu al-Ashʿath narrated to us; Hazm al-Qutaʿi narrated to us; I heard al-Hasan say:
“It has reached us that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘May Allah have mercy on a servant who speaks and thereby gains, or remains silent and thereby stays safe.’” (2)
With this same chain Hazm said:
“I saw al-Hasan when he arrived in Mecca. He stood behind the Maqam and prayed, and then ʿAtaʾ, Tawus, Mujahid, and ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb came and sat with him.”
This is the highest-ascent chain that has reached us from al-Hasan al-Basri—may Allah have mercy on him.
Ahmad ibn Abi Khaythamah said: I heard Yahya ibn Maʿin say, “Al-Hasan never heard anything from Abu Hurayrah.”
Someone remarked, “Yet in certain reports he says, ‘Abu Hurayrah narrated to us!’”
He replied, “That is of no consequence.”
Musa ibn Ismaʿil related: Rabiʿah ibn Kulthum narrated to us, from al-Hasan, who said:
“Abu Hurayrah informed us, saying, ‘The Prophet ﷺ entrusted me with three matters: performing ghusl (a full ritual bath) on Friday, praying witr before I go to sleep, and fasting three days of every month.’” (3)
Rabiʿah is reliable; Muslim included his narrations.