“…for he is the one who is most uncompromising for the sake of God—or, he said, in the cause of God—and thus should never be the target of complaint.”

Imam Aḥmad also transmitted it through the narration of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq with these very words, saying: “He is indeed the most rigorous for the sake of God, or in the cause of God.”

Imam Aḥmad further said:
“Al-Faḍl ibn Dukayn related to us; Ibn Abī Ghuniyyah related to us, from al-Ḥakam, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, from Buraydah, who said:
‘I campaigned with ʿAlī in Yemen and found him somewhat stern. When I returned to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ I spoke about ʿAlī and belittled him. I saw the face of the Messenger of Allah change. He said, “O Buraydah, am I not nearer to the believers than they are to themselves?” I replied, “Indeed, O Messenger of Allah!” He said, “For whomever I am his mawlā, ʿAlī is his mawlā.”’”

Al-Nasāʾī likewise narrated it from Abū Dāwūd al-Ḥarrānī, from Abū Nuʿaym al-Faḍl ibn Dukayn, from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī Ghuniyyah with a chain like it. This isnād is sound and strong; every transmitter in it is trustworthy.

Al-Nasāʾī also reports in his Sunan, from Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā, from Yaḥyā ibn Ḥammād, from Abū ʿAwana, from al-Aʿmash, from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, from Abū al-Ṭufayl, from Zayd ibn Arqam, who said:
“When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ returned from the Farewell Pilgrimage and halted at Ghadīr Khumm, he ordered that several thorny trees be cleared beneath him. Then he said:
‘It is as though I have been summoned and I will soon respond. I am leaving among you the Two Weighty Matters: the Book of God and my family, the people of my household. See how you uphold them after me, for the two shall never part until they come to me at the Pool.
God is my Master, and I am the protector of every believer.’
He then took ʿAlī’s hand and said:
‘Whomever I am his mawlā, this man is his mawlā. O God, befriend those who befriend him and oppose those who oppose him.’”

I asked Zayd, “Did you hear this from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?”
He replied, “There was no one beneath those trees but that he saw him with his own eyes and heard him with his own ears.” Al-Nasāʾī alone records it through this route.

Our shaykh, Abū ʿAbd-Allah al-Dhahabī, said: “This ḥadīth is authentic.”

Ibn Mājah said: “ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; Abū al-Ḥusayn narrated to us; Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated to us, from …”