and the ḥadīth, “Beware of belittled sins” (1), both of which were transmitted by Yūnus ibn Yazīd on his authority.
Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Ramlī reported: al-Walīd ibn Muslim narrated to us from al-Awzāʿī who said, “I heard al-Zuhrī, when he related from the Prophet ﷺ, say: ‘The adulterer is not a believer at the very moment he is committing adultery’ (2).”
I said to him, “Then what is it?”
He replied, “The word comes from Allah, the Messenger’s task is to convey it, and our duty is to submit. Pass on the ḥadīth of the Messenger of Allah just as it has come, without asking how.”
Muḥammad ibn Maymūn al-Makkī reported: Ibn ʿUyaynah narrated to us, saying, “I approached al-Zuhrī while he was leaning against a column by the Gate of Ṣafā and sat before him. He asked, ‘My son, have you read the Quran?’
I answered, ‘Yes.’
He said, ‘Have you studied the obligatory shares of inheritance?’
I answered, ‘Yes.’
He said, ‘Have you written down ḥadīth?’
I answered, ‘Yes—meaning from Abū Isḥāq al-Hamdānī.’
He remarked, ‘Abū Isḥāq is (itself) an isnād.’
Ḍamrah ibn Rabīʿah narrated from Rajāʾ ibn Abī Salamah, from Abū Razīn, who said, “I heard al-Zuhrī say, ‘The jurists have exhausted themselves and proven unable to discern which ḥadīth of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ abrogate others and which are abrogated.’
And Ismāʿīl al-Makkī reported: I heard al-Zuhrī say, ‘Whoever wishes to preserve…’
= Reported by al-Zuhri, from Abu Humayd, the client of Musafiʿ, from Abu Hurayra, in the wording: “You will be sifted just as dates are sifted from their stems; the best of you will go, and the worst will remain ….” The chain is weak because Yunus’s transmission from al-Zuhri is unreliable and because Abu Humayd, the client of Musafiʿ, is an unknown narrator.
(1) Also transmitted by Ibn Majah (no. 4243) and Ahmad (6:71, 151) through ʿAmir b. ʿAbd Allah b. al-Zubayr, from ʿAwf b. al-Harith, from ʿAisha, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ told me, “ʿAisha, beware of the insignificant deeds, for Allah will call one to account for them.” Ibn Hibban (no. 2497) and al-Busiri in Zawaid judged it authentic. A corroborating report from Sahl b. Saʿd appears in Ahmad (5:331) with the wording: “Beware of minor sins: it is like people who camped in a valley—one brought a twig, another a twig—until they baked their bread. In the same way, when a person is taken to task for minor sins, they destroy him.” Its chain is sound. Al-Haythami cites it in Majmaʿ (10:190) and remarks: “Ahmad transmitted it, and its narrators are those of the Sahih.” Al-Tabarani records it in the three Muʿjams through two routes; the narrators of one of them are those of the Sahih except ʿAbd al-Wahhab b. al-Hakim, who is reliable. There is also a supporting narration from Ibn Masʿud in Ahmad (1:402) and al-Tabarani with a chain that is hasan.
(2) Agreed upon, from Abu Hurayra.