80—Muhammad ibn Umar ibn Muhammad ibn Humayd informed us: Ahmad ibn Abdullah al-Wakil informed us; Amr ibn Ali informed us; Abu Asim al-Dahhak ibn Makhlad narrated to us; Thawr narrated to us.

81—And Yahya ibn Isma'il ibn Zakariyya al-Naysaburi informed us: Abu Hamid Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-Sharqi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yahya narrated to us; Abd al-Malik ibn al-Sabbah and Abu Asim narrated to us. They both said: Thawr narrated to us, from Khalid ibn Ma'dan, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Amr al-Sulami, from Irbad ibn Sariyah—who was among those concerning whom Allah revealed: “Nor is there any blame upon those who, when they came to you for you to provide them with mounts...” [Quran 9:92], to the end of the verse. He said:

We entered upon him, greeted him with peace, and said, “We have come to visit you, to inquire after your health, and to seek knowledge.”

He said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, prayed the dawn prayer one day and then turned to us and delivered an eloquent exhortation that brought tears to our eyes and struck fear into our hearts. We said, “O Messenger of Allah, this seems to be the exhortation of one bidding farewell. What instruction do you leave us with?”

In his narration, Abu Asim said: “So advise us.”

He said: “I advise you, servants of Allah, to fear Allah and to listen and obey, even if an Abyssinian slave is appointed over you. Whoever among you lives will indeed see much disagreement after me. So adhere to my sunnah and the sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, who are guided aright. Hold fast to it with your molar teeth, and beware of newly introduced matters, for every ⦗84⦘ innovation is misguidance.”

The wording is that of Muhammad ibn Yahya; the wording of Amr ibn Ali from Abu Asim is close to it.