Ṣilah ibn Zufar asked Ḥudhayfa, “Of what use will lā ilāha illā Allah be to them when they do not know what prayer, fasting, sacrifice, or charity are?” Ḥudhayfa turned away from him, and Ṣilah repeated the question three times, each time Ḥudhayfa ignoring him. The third time Ḥudhayfa faced him and said, “O Ṣilah, it will save them from the Fire,” repeating this three times.

I remark: They filled three long pages trying to weaken this ḥadīth in response to my authentication of it, yet they could find nothing to seize upon except that it is narrated by Abū Muʿāwiyah Muḥammad ibn Khāzim al-Ḍarīr, claiming that he espoused irjāʾ and that the ḥadīth accords with that innovation.

Such an objection stems from gross ignorance, and there is no room here for a full refutation—only a brief word: Abū Muʿāwiyah, besides being trustworthy and relied upon by the two Shaykhs, is corroborated by another equally reliable narrator, and the ḥadīth has absolutely no connection with irjāʾ. Their claim arises only from their lack of knowledge. How could it be so when it was declared authentic by al-Ḥākim, al-Dhahabī, as well as Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, and al-Būṣīrī? And even if their minds admit the possibility that all of these scholars were mistaken in authenticating it, have they now reached the point of believing that they… ⦗53⦘