414 — (The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said): “Shall I not direct you to something superior in rank to prayer, fasting, and charity?” They replied, “Indeed, O Messenger of Allah.” He said: “Reconciling people, for discord between people is the razor. I do not say that it shaves hair; rather, it shaves away religion.” (Al-Tirmidhī and others), p. 303.

Authentic. Al-Tirmidhī (2/83), as well as Abū Dāwūd (4919), Ibn Hibbān (1982), and Ahmad (6/444), narrated it from Abū al-Dardā, who said: The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said it. Al-Tirmidhī said: “This is an authentic hadith.”

I say: Its chain is authentic according to the criteria of al-Bukhārī and Muslim.

However, the hadith does not contain the words, “I do not say that it shaves hair.…” Rather, al-Tirmidhī cited this in suspended form after the hadith and his authentication of it, saying:

“It is narrated from the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—that he said: ‘It is the razor. I do not say that it shaves hair; rather, it shaves away religion.’”

He then supplied its connected chain through Yaīsh ibn al-Walīd, who reported that a client of al-Zubayr told him that al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwām told him that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said:

“The disease of the nations before you has crept upon you: envy and hatred. It is the razor. I do not say that it shaves hair; rather, it shaves away religion. By Him in whose hand is my soul, you will not enter Paradise until you believe.…” The remainder of the hadith.

Al-Mubārakfūrī declared it defective in al-Tuhfa (3/320) because al-Zubayr’s client is unknown. Nevertheless, he said: “Al-Mundhirī said: ‘Al-Bazzār narrated it with a sound chain, as did al-Bayhaqī and others.’”

What al-Mundhirī said (4/12) is open to question, for the hadith in al-Bazzār (p. 241, al-Zawāid) comes through the same route as that in al-Tirmidhī, except that al-Bazzār omitted al-Zubayr’s client and said: