each contingent go forth so that they may gain a sound understanding of the religion and warn their people when they return to them, that they might beware.” (Q 9:122)

A single individual may himself be called “a party,” for the Almighty also says, “If two parties of the believers fight…” (Q 49:9); even were only two men to quarrel, they would still fall under the verse. Likewise His words, “If a sinful person comes to you with a report, verify it” (Q 49:6). In the same vein, the Prophet ﷺ used to dispatch his governors one after another; should any one of them slip, he was steered back to the Sunnah.

Imām al-Bukhārī then cited a series of ḥadiths as evidence for the permissibility of relying on a solitary report, i.e., that it may be acted upon and taken as binding proof. I shall quote a few of them:

First ḥadith: Mālik b. al-Huwayrith related:

“We came to the Prophet ﷺ as a band of young men1 close in age and stayed with him for about twenty nights. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was kind and gentle. When he sensed that we were missing our families or growing homesick, he asked about those we had left behind, and we told him. He said, ‘Return to your families, stay among them, teach them, instruct them, and pray as you have seen me pray.’”

Thus the Prophet ﷺ commanded each of those young men to teach his own household; such teaching necessarily includes creed, indeed creed is the first matter encompassed by it. If a solitary report were not sufficient proof, this command would have been meaningless.