Among the reports transmitted by Abū Bakr al-Miyānajī (1)—through al-Ḥusayn ibn Aḥmad al-Mālikī, Chief Judge Yaḥyā ibn Aktham, al-Maʾmun, Hushaym, Manṣūr, and al-Ḥasan—on the authority of Abū Bakrah is the statement that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Modesty is a branch of faith.” (2)
Another narration comes from Jaʿfar [ibn Muḥammad] ibn Abū ʿUthmān al-Ṭayālisī. He relates that, on the Day of ʿArafah, he prayed the ʿAṣr prayer behind al-Maʾmun at al-Ruṣāfah. When the prayer ended, the people raised the takbīr, but he kept repeating, “No, O ghawghāʾ (rabble), no, O ghawghāʾ; tomorrow is the sunnah of Abū al-Qāsim ﷺ.” The next morning he mounted the pulpit and pronounced the takbīr, then said, “Hushaym ibn Bashīr informed me; Ibn Shubrumah narrated to us, from al-Shaʿbī, from al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib, from Abū Burdah ibn Niyār, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘Whoever slaughters his sacrifice before the prayer has only offered meat to his family, but whoever slaughters after performing the morning prayer has followed the sunnah.’ (3) Allah is the Greatest, infinitely great; praise belongs to Allah abundantly; glory be to Allah morning and evening. O Allah, rectify me, set my affairs aright, and make righteousness come about through me.”
Al-Maʾmun was born on the very night his uncle al-Hādī died and his father Hārūn al-Rashīd assumed the caliphate—a Friday night, the fifteenth of Rabīʿ al-Awwal in the year 170 AH. He himself acceded to the caliphate in Muḥarram, with five days remaining in the month, in 198 AH, after the killing of his brother, and he remained caliph for twenty years and five months.
He displayed leanings toward Shiʿism and the Muʿtazilite school and was ignorant of the sound sunnah. In the year 201 AH he secured the oath of allegiance for the office of heir apparent from
Yusuf b. Atiyya al-Saffar, who is considered matruk (abandoned). Al-Haythami mentions him in the chain of Ibn Masʿud, stating that it was narrated by al-Tabarani in al-Kabir and al-Awsat; this version includes ʿUmyr (Abu Harun al-Qurashi), who is also matruk.
Al-Tabarani further records it in al-Awsat from Ibn ʿUmar with the wording: “The most beloved of people to Allah Almighty are those who benefit people most, and the dearest deeds to Allah are any of the following: bringing joy to a Muslim, relieving him of distress, paying off his debt, or saving him from hunger.”
Its isnad is weak, but it has another route: Ibn Abi al-Dunya in Qadaʼ al-Hawaʼij from some Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and Ibn Asakir by chains from Ibn ʿUmar—making it a hadith hasan (good).
In another narration: “The servants most beloved to Allah are those who are most beneficial to their dependents.” This was narrated by ʿAbdullah b. Imam Ahmad in Zawaʾid al-Zuhd from his father, on the authority of al-Hasan, mursal; it is weak but has supporting witnesses, thus hasan in one version.
(1) See Gharaib Hadith al-Miyanji (Kh. Hadith 279, p. 123, Dhahiriya) and Tarikh Ibn Asakir, vol. 39, p. 325.
(2) Its isnad is weak, but it was narrated by al-Bukhari (10/433) in al-Adab, Bab al-Haya; Muslim no. 36 in al-Iman, Bab Bayani Shuʿab al-Iman wa Fadila al-Haya; Abu Dawud no. 4795 in al-Adab, Bab fi al-Haya; al-Tirmidhi no. 2615 in al-Iman, Bab Ma Ja’a anna al-Haya min al-Iman; and Ibn Majah no. 58 in al-Muqaddima, Bab fi al-Iman—all from the report of ʿAbdullah b. ʿUmar b. al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him). It is also narrated by al-Tirmidhi no. 2009 in al-Birr wa al-Silah, Bab Ma Ja’a fi al-Haya, from Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him). Therefore the hadith is sahih.
(3) It appears in Sahih al-Bukhari (10/2–3) in al-Adhiyah, Bab Sunnat al-Adhiyah; Muslim no. 1961(7); al-Nasa’i (3/182) in al-Eidayn; and al-Bayhaqi in his Sunan (10/276) in al-Adhiyah, Bab Waqt al-Adhiyah; from the report of al-Bara’ b. ʿAzib (may Allah be pleased with him).