that I love him for Allah’s sake.’
The angel said, ‘I am a messenger from Allah to you, informing you that Allah has loved you just as you loved him for His sake.’
Muslim recorded the report (1) through ʿAbd al-Aʿlā, and our chain joins his at a higher level.
This ḥadith belongs to the corpus of traditions on the divine attributes and must be accepted as it has come.
Its corroboration in the Qur’an and Sunnah is plentiful. Allah, exalted is He, says: ‘Say, “If you love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you.”’ (Āl ʿImrān 3:31). He also says: ‘And Allah took Abraham as an intimate friend.’ (Al-Nisāʾ 4:125).
ʿAbd al-Ḥāfiẓ ibn Badrān in Nablus and Yūsuf ibn Aḥmad al-Ḥajjār in Damascus told us, saying:
Mūsā ibn ʿAbd al-Qādir related to us in the year 618 AH; Saʿīd ibn Aḥmad related to us; ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Busrī related to us; Abū Ṭāhir al-Mukhalliṣ narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Baghawī narrated to us; Abū Naṣr al-Tammār narrated to us; Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated to us, from Ayyūb, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ recited the verse, ‘On the Day when mankind will stand before the Lord of all worlds’ (Al-Muṭaffifīn 83:6), and said, ‘They will remain standing until the perspiration reaches the tips of their ears.’
Muslim also recorded it, through al-Tammār (2).
Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq informed us; al-Fatḥ ibn ʿAbd al-Salām informed us; Hibat Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn informed us; Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Bazzāz informed us; ʿĪsā ibn ʿAlī informed us; Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī informed us; ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd, ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn Ḥammād, Abū Naṣr al-Tammār, Kāmil ibn Ṭalḥah, and ʿUbayd Allāh al-ʿAyshī all said:
Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated to us, from Abū al-ʿUsharāʾ, from his father, who said:
‘I asked, “Messenger of Allah, is valid slaughter only by cutting the throat and the upper chest?”
He replied, “If you were to pierce its thigh, it would still suffice for you.”’ (3)