To speak the truth openly is a grave matter; it demands both strength and sincerity. Whoever possesses sincerity without strength is incapable of carrying it out, and whoever has strength without sincerity will be abandoned. One who combines the two perfectly is a ṣiddīq (one of the most truthful). If a person is too weak, he must at the very least feel pain and repudiate the evil in his heart—beyond that there is no faith. There is no strength except through Allah.
Sufyān al-Thawrī—on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAmr, from Muḥammad ibn Muslim, the freedman of Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām, from ʿAbd-Allah ibn ʿAmr—reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “When you see my community intimidated by a tyrant to the point that they do not say to him, ‘You are an oppressor,’ then bid them farewell.” (1)
A number of transmitters narrated it in this form from Sufyān.
It was also narrated by al-Naḍr ibn Ismāʿīl from al-Ḥasan, who said: from Mujāhid, from ʿAbd-Allah ibn ʿAmr, as a marfūʿ (traced) report.
Sayf ibn Hārūn likewise transmitted it from al-Ḥasan, saying: from Abū al-Zubayr—“I heard ʿAbd-Allah ibn ʿAmr,” as a marfūʿ report.
Sufyān al-Thawrī—on the authority of Zubayd, from ʿAmr ibn Murrah, from Abū al-Bakhtari—
(1) All the transmitters are trustworthy, yet Muhammad b. Muslim Abu al-Zubayr is known for tadlis (concealing the directness of a transmission). Al-Hasan b. Amr is al-Faqimi. In spite of this, al-Hakim declared the hadith authentic (4/96) and al-Dhahabi endorsed his judgement.
Al-Manawi reports in Fayd that al-Bayhaqi challenged al-Hakim, calling the chain broken: “Muhammad b. Muslim is Abu al-Zubayr al-Makki, and he never heard from Ibn ʿAmr.” The copy used by al-Hakim shows the faulty wording “from Muhammad b. Muslim b. al-Saib,” whereas the correct form is “Muhammad b. Muslim b. Tadrus, Abu al-Zubayr, the client of Hakim b. Hizam,” as found in our base manuscript; the hadith is known only through this wording. The error most likely crept in through the copyists.
Ahmad records the report in the Musnad (2/163, 190) through Ibn Numayr and Sufyan al-Thawri, both transmitting from al-Hasan b. Amr, from Muhammad b. Muslim, from ʿAbd Allah b. ʿAmr. Al-Haythami lists it in Majmaʿ (7/262) and states: “Ahmad and al-Bazzar transmit it with two isnads; the transmitters of one of al-Bazzar’s chains are those of the two Sahihs, and so are Ahmad’s.”
The phrase “faqad tuwdiʿa minhum” is read with damma on the ta and waw and kasra on the doubled dal; it derives from tawdiʿ (to bid farewell).
Al-Zamakhshari explains in al-Faʾiq that it means: “be relieved of them—they have been abandoned and left to commit their sins.” The expression is figurative: when someone striving to reform a person despairs of success, he abandons him, washes his hands of the effort, and rests from the toil of correction.
It may also be connected to their expression “tawaddaʿtu-sh-shayʾ” (“I stored the thing safely in a cover”), implying: they have reached a point where one must protect oneself from them, just as one takes precautions against the worst of people.