entered upon ʿUbayd Allah ibn Ziyād and said, “My dear son, I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, ‘The worst shepherds are the ruthless ones (1).’ Beware lest you be one of them!” Ibn Ziyād retorted, “Sit down—you are nothing but the chaff of Muḥammad’s Companions.” ʿĀʾidh replied, “Were there any chaff among them? The chaff only appeared after them, and in others besides them.” Narrated by Muslim.

198 – Tenth: Ḥudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet ﷺ said, “By the One in Whose hand is my soul, you must enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, or Allah will soon send upon you a punishment from Himself; then you will call upon Him, but He will not answer you.” Narrated by al-Tirmidhī, who said: a ḥasan hadith.

199 – Eleventh: Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet ﷺ said, “The best form of jihad is a just word spoken before a tyrannical ruler.” Narrated by Abū Dāwūd and al-Tirmidhī, who said: a ḥasan hadith.

200 – Twelfth: Abū ʿAbd Allah Ṭāriq ibn Shihāb al-Bajalī al-Aḥmasī (may Allah be pleased with him) related that a man asked the Prophet ﷺ, while the Prophet had placed his foot in the stirrup, “Which jihad is best?” He answered, “A word of truth spoken before a tyrannical ruler.” Narrated by al-Nasāʾī with a sound chain.

“Al-gharz,” with ghayn followed by a silent rāʾ and then a zāy, is the leather or wooden stirrup attached to the camel’s saddle, though some say it is not limited to those two materials.

201 – Thirteenth: Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The first deficiency that crept into the Children of Israel was that a man would meet another and say, ‘Good fellow, fear Allah and give up what you are doing; it is not lawful for you.’ Then he would meet him the next day while he was still doing it, yet that would not stop him from eating with him, drinking with him, and sitting with him. When they persisted in that, Allah caused some of their hearts to strike against others.” Then he recited: “Those who disbelieved among the Children of Israel were cursed by the tongue of David….”