and Hammad ibn Salamah, Hammad ibn Zayd, Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah, and others of their rank—the number of narrations of this sort is known only to Allah. Indeed, these scholars are the very axis upon which such reports turn; it is through them that the traditions have reached us.
It was Hammad ibn Salamah—who once said that Mālik modeled his Muwaṭṭaʾ on Hammad’s own collection—who gathered the hadiths dealing with the divine attributes (1) after the Jahmiyyah (the Jahmite sect) began to reject them. Even the hadith, “Allah created Adam in His image,” or, “in the image of the Most Merciful,” was related by these leading Imams: al-Layth ibn Saʿd transmitted it from Ibn ʿAjlān (2); Sufyan (3) ibn ʿUyaynah narrated it from Abūʾl-Zinād, and through his chain Muslim recorded it in his Ṣaḥīḥ (4); and al-Thawri related it from Ḥabīb ibn Abī (5) Thābit, from ʿAṭāʾ, from the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him.
(1) On p. 160 the Shaykh – may Allah have mercy on him – discusses Hammad b. Salama, noting that he composed his work on al-Sifat (the Divine Attributes) just as he authored writings in the other branches of knowledge. See also my remarks on this work in note (3) on the aforementioned page.
(2) This hadith is recorded by Ibn Abi ‘Asim in al-Sunnah (1:229) from al-Layth b. Sa‘d, from Muhammad b. ‘Ajlan, from Sa‘id b. Abi Sa‘id al-Maqburi, from Abu Hurayra who reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Let none of you say, ‘May Allah uglify your face,’ or ‘the face of one who resembles you,’ for Allah created Adam in His image.” Al-Albani grades its chain as hasan sahih, noting that its narrators are reliable despite some criticism regarding Ibn ‘Ajlan and Ibn Musfi. Ibn Khuzaymah also transmits it in at-Tawhid (p. 36) with the wording “… and a face resembling yours ….”
(3) The original reading “Sufyan al-Thawri ibn ‘Uyayna” is a scribal error; the correct name, attested in manuscripts S and T (see above), is Sufyan ibn ‘Uyayna. Imam Ahmad records the report in his Musnad (2:244) via Sufyan from Abu al-Zinad from al-A‘raj from Abu Hurayra – may Allah be pleased with him – from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “If any of you strikes the face, let him avoid striking the face, for Allah created Adam in His image.” Ahmad Muhammad Shakir, in his commentary on the Musnad (vol. 13, p. 44), affirms the chain as sahih.
(4) Muslim, Sahih Muslim 4:2016 (Book of Virtue and Maintaining Ties, chapter “Prohibition of Striking the Face,” Hadith no. 112), via Sufyan ibn ‘Uyayna, in abbreviated form.
(5) The element “Abi” is omitted in manuscript S. His full name is Abu Yahya Ḥabib b. Abi Thabit Qays b. Dinar; he is also referred to as Qays b. Hind.