Ibn Abī Rawwād—one of your own townsmen—said: “My father narrated to us, from Shuʿbah, from Manṣūr and others, from Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, from Anas: A Bedouin came to the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, a man loves a certain people…,’ and he related the remainder of the report (1).
He then added, ‘This wording is not the one you have; the version current among you comes through someone other than Manṣūr, from Sālim.’
He proceeded to dictate an entire session along these lines, saying with each hadith, ‘Shuʿbah transmitted this hadith among you as such-and-such, but the transmission through so-and-so is not in your possession,’ or words to that effect (2).
Yūsuf said: ‘I entered Basra in the days of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī al-Shawārib.’
Muḥammad ibn Abī Ḥātim al-Warrāq said: ‘Abū ʿAbd Allāh read to us the Book of Gifts and commented: “In Wakīʿ’s recension on gifts there are only two, or at most three, hadiths with fully connected chains. In the compilation of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak there are five or so, whereas in this book of mine there are five hundred.”’
(1) Recorded by al-Bukhari, Sahih, ‘Book of Legal Rulings’, chapter: ‘Passing judgment or issuing a fatwa while on the road’ (vol. 13, p. 116), through the chain of ‘Uthman ibn Abi Shaybah → Jarir → Mansur → Salim ibn Abi al-Ja‘d → Anas ibn Malik. Anas reports: “While the Prophet and I were leaving the mosque, we met a man at its gate who asked, ‘Messenger of Allah, when is the Hour?’ The Prophet replied, ‘What have you prepared for it?’ The man seemed humbled and said, ‘Messenger of Allah, I have not prepared much fasting, prayer, or charity, but I love Allah and His Messenger.’ The Prophet answered, ‘You will be with those you love.’”
For other chains of this hadith, see al-Bukhari, vol. 7, p. 40 (Virtues) and vol. 10, pp. 458, 462 (Manners); Muslim, no. 2639 (‘Birr and Sila’, chapter: ‘A man will be with those he loves’, nos. 161–164); al-Tirmidhi, no. 2385; Abu Dawud, no. 5127, whose wording is: “A man said, ‘Messenger of Allah, a man may love another for the good he does though he himself cannot do the same.’ The Prophet replied, ‘A person is with those he loves.’”
Related reports are transmitted from Ibn Mas‘ud (al-Bukhari, vol. 10, pp. 461–462; Muslim, no. 2640), Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari (al-Bukhari, vol. 10, p. 462; Muslim, no. 2641), Safwan ibn ‘Assal al-Muradi (al-Tirmidhi, no. 2387), and Abu Dharr (Abu Dawud, no. 5126).
(2) Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 2, p. 16.