Shaykh Rashid al-Din Aḥmad ibn Maslamah informed us; Abū al-Fatḥ ibn al-Baṭṭī transmitted to us, from Abū Naṣr al-Zaynabī; al-Dhahabī informed us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Baghawī narrated to us; Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥanbal narrated to us; Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd narrated to us, from Shuʿbah, who said: Abū Jamrah related to me:
“I heard Ibn ʿAbbās say: The delegation of ʿAbd al-Qays came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he instructed them to have faith in Allah. He said, ‘Do you know what faith in Allah is?’ They replied, ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’ He said, ‘It is to testify that there is no deity but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah; to establish the prayer; to give the zakat; to fast in the month of Ramadan; and to hand over one-fifth of the spoils of war.’ ”
Its authenticity is unanimously affirmed (1).
It was also recorded by Abū Dāwūd through Imam Aḥmad.
Abū al-Ḥusayn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Yūnīnī (2) and Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad … informed us.
(1) The hadith is found in the Musnad, 1/228. Al-Bukhari also records it, 1/120–125: in the Book of Faith, “Chapter: Paying the khums is part of faith”; in the Book of Knowledge, “Chapter: The Prophet’s exhortation to the delegation of ʿAbd al-Qays to preserve faith and knowledge and convey them to those behind them”; in the Book of Prayer Times, “Chapter: Allah’s saying, munibina ilayhi wattaquhu (turning to Him penitent and fear Him)”; in the Book of Zakat, “Chapter: The obligation of zakat”; in the Book of Jihad, “Chapter: Paying the khums is part of religion”; in the Book of the Prophets, “Chapter: Tracing Yemen back to Ismaʿil”; in the Book of Manners, “Chapter: A man’s saying, ‘Welcome’”; in the Book of Single-Narrator Reports, “Chapter: The Prophet’s injunction to Arab delegations to pass on the message to those absent”; and in the Book of Tawhid, “Chapter: Allah’s saying, wallahu khalaqakum wama taʿmalun (Allah created you and what you do).” Muslim (no. 17) transmits it in the Book of Faith, “Chapter: The command to believe in Allah,” and in the Book of Drinks, “Chapter: The prohibition of fermenting drinks in varnished jars.” Abu Dawud (3692) cites it in the Book of Drinks, “Chapter: On drinking-vessels,” and (4677) in the Book of Sunnah, “Chapter: Refutation of the Murjiʾa.” Al-Nasaʾi, 8/323, lists it in the Book of Drinks under several headings: “Reports used by those who permit intoxicants,” “Mixing fresh dates with unripe dates,” “Mixing unripe dates with ripe dates,” and “Evidence for the prohibition of certain vessels.” Al-Tirmidhi (2611) includes it in the Book of Faith, “Chapter: Attributing the religious obligations to faith.”
(2) He is ʿAli ibn Muhammad ibn al-Husayn ibn Ahmad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿIsa ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad, the imam, traditionist, and jurist; a unique authority and one of the last representatives of the early generations. His honorific is Sharf al-Din Abu ʾl-Husayn, son of the eminent jurist Abu ʿAbd Allah al-Yunini al-Hanbali. Al-Dhahabi says: “Our shaykh and mentor. He was born in Rajab 621 AH. He heard hadith in person from al-Bahaʾ ʿAbd al-Rahman, and also from Ibn al-Sabah, Ibn al-Zubaydi, Ibn al-Latti, Makram, ʿAbd al-Wahid ibn Abi ʾl-Madaʾ, Ibn Rawaj, and many others in Egypt and Syria. He copied Sahih al-Bukhari, carefully compared its text, and told me that within a single year he collated it and listened to it eleven times. He transmitted an immense amount. He was a dignified, radiant shaykh, delightful to sit with, …”