1284 – Sahl ibn Saʿd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported:

“A man came to the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, direct me to a deed which, if I do it, Allah will love me and people will love me.’ He replied, ‘Renounce the world and Allah will love you; renounce what people possess and people will love you.’”

Related by Ibn Mājah and others, and its chain is judged fair. (1)

Status of the ḥadīth
The report is considered ḥasan (fair) when its corroborating chains are taken into account.

Ibn Rajab said in his commentary on the Forty Ḥadīths: “Ibn Mājah recorded this narration, and al-Nawawī stated that its isnād is fair; yet this merits scrutiny, for the chain contains Khālid ibn ʿAmr al-Qurashī. Imām Aḥmad said, ‘He is munkar al-ḥadīth, unreliable, and transmits false reports.’ Ibn Maʿīn said, ‘His narrations are worthless; he is a liar who attributed fabricated ḥadīths to Shuʿbah.’ Al-Bukhārī and Abū Zurʿah likewise declared him munkar al-ḥadīth, while Abū Ḥātim deemed him matrūk (abandoned) and weak, and Ibn ʿAdī accused him of forging ḥadīths.”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ (Ibn Ḥajar) said, “Its chain is fair.” Abū Nuʿaym transmitted it from Mujāhid on the authority of Anas with trustworthy narrators, though Mujāhid’s direct hearing from Anas is unproven, and the report has also come mursal. Al-Nawawī therefore graded the ḥadīth fair, apparently on the strength of its supporting chains.

Vocabulary of the ḥadīth
– “Renounce the world” (izhad fī al-dunyā): One says zahida fī al-shayʾ—yazhad with zuhd and zihāda—when he has no desire for something. Zuhd is the opposite of yearning; hence a person is called zāhid because he has no inclination toward