—from Muḥammad al-Taymī, from Abū Naḍrah, from Abū Saʿīd, who said:
“The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ‘Let not the awe of people prevent any one of you from speaking the truth when he sees it or hears it.’ (1)
This report is gharīb (singular), farad (unique).
Hammād ibn Salamah and Muʿallā ibn Ziyād—this is the wording of the latter—narrated from Abū Ghālib, from Abū Umāmah that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ‘The most beloved form of jihad to Allah is a word of truth spoken to a tyrannical ruler.’ (2)
Isḥāq ibn Mūsā al-Khaṭmī reported to us: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān told us; Yaʿqūb ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Qārī narrated to us, from his father, from his grandfather, that ʿUmar wrote to Muʿāwiyah:
‘To proceed: Hold fast to the truth; the truth will lodge you in the stations of the people of truth on the Day when judgment is rendered by nothing but the truth.’
And with a weak isnād (chain), it is related from Abū Dharr: ‘The truth refused to leave him with even a single friend.’
(1) All the transmitters are reliable. Ahmad (3/5) records it through Muhammad b. Ibrahim b. Abi Adi and, separately, through Yahya al-Qattan, both from Sulayman b. Tarhan al-Taymi, from Abu Nadra, from Abu Sa id; this chain is sound. Ahmad also cites it (3/19, 71), as do al-Tirmidhi (2191) and Ibn Majah (4007), through Hammad, from Ali b. Zayd b. Jud an, from Abu Nadra, from Abu Sa id. Ibn Majah (4008) further narrates it via Abu Kurayb, from Abd Allah b. Numayr and Abu Muawiya, from al-A mash, from Amr b. Murra, from Abu al-Bakhtari, from Abu Sa id, who reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “None of you should belittle himself.” They asked, “Messenger of Allah, how does one of us belittle himself?” He replied: “He sees a matter about which Allah requires him to speak but says nothing. On the Day of Resurrection Allah will ask: ‘What kept you from speaking about such-and-such?’ He will answer: ‘Fear of the people.’ Allah will say: ‘Rather, it is Me whom you should have feared.’ ” Al-Busayri remarks in Misbah al-Zujajah, fol. 250, that this chain is sahih; Abu al-Bakhtari’s name is Sa id b. Firuz. Abu Dawud al-Tayalisi transmits it in his Musnad through Shu bah, from Amr b. Murra; al-Bayhaqi relates it in al-Sunan al-Kubra through Muhammad b. Ubayd, from al-A mash, and notes that Zubayd and Shu bah corroborate Amr b. Murra. Abd b. Humayd likewise records it in his Musnad through Muhammad b. Ubayd.
(2) Its chain is hasan. Ahmad (5/251, 256) and Ibn Majah (4012) also transmit it. A parallel report from Tariq b. Shihab appears in Ahmad (4/314–315) and al-Nasa i (7/161) with an authentic isnad, declared sahih by al-Nawawi and al-Munadhiri. Another version from Abu Sa id al-Khudri is found in al-Tirmidhi (2175), Abu Dawud (4344) and Ibn Majah (4011); although its isnad is weak, it is strengthened by the preceding routes, so the overall hadith is authentic.