Ibn al-Bukhārī informed us; Ibn al-Ḥarastānī told us; ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Ḥamzah told us; al-Kattānī told us; Tammām narrated to us; Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Ziyād in Aleppo informed us; Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (1) narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ghazwān narrated to us; al-Layth narrated to us; Mālik, from al-Zuhrī, from ʿUrwah, from ʿĀʾishah, reported that:
A man said, “O Messenger of Allah, I have two slaves who betray me, strike me, and lie to me. In return I curse them and beat them. How do I stand in relation to them?”
He replied, “Your punishment of them will be compared with their sins. If your punishment is less than their sins, you will have the advantage over them; otherwise, retribution will be taken from you.”
The man burst into tears, whereupon the Prophet said, “Do you not read: ‘And We shall set up the scales of justice’ (Qur’an 21:47)?”
This ḥadith is exceedingly anomalous (2).
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Salām informed us; Zaynab al-Shaʿriyyah told us; Zāhir ibn Ṭāhir informed us; Abū Saʿd told us; Abū Aḥmad the ḥāfiẓ informed us; Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Ziyād informed us; Ibrāhīm ibn Ḥamzah narrated to us; al-Dārāwardī narrated to us, from ʿUbayd
(1) The tradition is found in the Musnad, 6/280-281 with this same chain; al-Tirmidhi also recorded it (no. 3165) in his commentary on Surah al-Anbiya, through the route of Mujahid b. Musa, al-Fadl b. Sahl al-Araj and others who said: “ʿAbd al-Rahman b. Ghazwan Qirad narrated to us.” Al-Tirmidhi remarked: “This hadith is gharib; we know it only through the narration of ʿAbd al-Rahman b. Ghazwan.” Al-Suyuti cites it in al-Durr al-manthur, 4/319-320, adding references to Ibn Jarir in his Tahdhib, Ibn al-Munzir, Ibn Abi Hatim, Ibn Mardawayh and al-Bayhaqi in Shuʿab al-iman.
(2) In the author’s Mizan al-iʿtidal, 2/581, under the entry for ʿAbd al-Rahman b. Ghazwan Qirad, it is reported that Ahmad b. Salih, when asked about this narration, replied: “This hadith is fabricated.” Abu Ahmad al-Hakim said: “He transmitted from al-Layth a hadith that is munkar.” Ibn Hibban wrote: “He made mistakes; one’s heart is troubled by him because he narrates from al-Layth, from Malik, from al-Zuhri, from ʿUrwa, from ʿAisha the story of the mamluks.” Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar states in the introduction to Fath al-bari that “he erred in its isnad; in fact he related it from al-Layth, from Ziyad b. ʿAylan, from Ziyad the client of Ibn ʿAbbas, as a mursal report,” a point clarified by al-Darqutni in his Gharaib.