Yahya ibn Abi Mansur, the jurist, wrote to me:
• ʿUmar ibn Muhammad in Baghdad related to us; likewise Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik al-Muqriʾ—the compiler of Al-Miftāḥ—together with Yahya ibn ʿAli, ʿAbd al-Khāliq ibn ʿAbd al-Ṣamad, and Abu Ghalib ibn al-Bannāʾ (ḥ).
• Al-Miqdād ibn Hibat Allah al-Qaysi informed us; Saʿid ibn Muhammad ibn al-Razzāz told us (ḥ).
• Al-Musallam ibn Muhammad al-Qaysi and Ibrāhim ibn ʿAli al-Zāhid both said: Dāwud ibn Mulāʿib informed us, who said: Abu’l-Faḍl al-Urmawi related to us (ḥ).
• ʿAli ibn Ahmad, in his written communication, conveyed to us from Niʿmah bint ʿAli, who reported from my grandfather, Yahya ibn al-Ṭarrāḥ (ḥ).
• Ahmad ibn Isḥaq al-Abrquhi informed us; al-Fath ibn ʿAbd al-Salām related to us; Muhammad ibn ʿUmar ibn Yūsuf al-Urmawi, Abu Ghalib Muhammad ibn ʿAli, and Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Ṭarāʾifi—seven narrators in all—said:
Abu Jaʿfar Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al-Muslimah informed us; ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Zuhri narrated to us in the year 380 AH; Abu Bakr Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad al-Ḥāfiẓ related to us in the year 298 AH; ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Ibrahim and al-Walid ibn ʿUtbah, both Damascenes, narrated to us, saying:
Al-Walid ibn Muslim narrated to us; Saʿid—meaning Ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz—and ʿAbd al-Ghaffār ibn Ismāʿil related from Ismāʿil ibn ʿUbayd Allah, who heard Abu ʿAbd Allah al-Ashʿari say that he had heard Abu’l-Dardāʾ say:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Certain people will indeed fall into unbelief after having believed.”
When this reached Abu’l-Dardāʾ he came to the Prophet and asked, “O Messenger of Allah, it has reached me that you said, ‘Certain people will indeed fall into unbelief after having believed’?”
He replied, “Yes—and you are not among them (1).”
Through this same chain, ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Ibrahim narrated to us, saying that al-Walid ibn Muslim related to him from al-Awzāʿi, who said, “I heard Bilal ibn Saʿd say:
‘Do not be a friend of Allah in public while His enemy in private (2).’”