1494 — Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Farisi informed us; Ahmad ibn Sa‘id al-Thaqafi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Dhuhli narrated to us; ‘Abd al-Razzaq narrated to us; Ma‘mar informed us, from al-Zuhri, from ‘Amir ibn Sa‘d, from his father. Another chain:

1495 — And al-Hasan ibn ‘Uthman informed us; Isma‘il ibn Muhammad informed us; Ahmad ibn Mansur narrated to us; ‘Abd al-Razzaq narrated to us; Ma‘mar informed us, from al-Zuhri, from ‘Amir ibn Sa‘d, from his father: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, gave gifts to some men but did not give one man anything. So I said, “O Messenger of Allah, you gave so-and-so, but left so-and-so without giving him anything, even though he is a believer.” The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Or is he a Muslim?”

He said: I repeated this three times, and he kept saying, “Or is he a Muslim?” Then he said, “I give to some men and withhold from others who are dearer to me than those I give, for fear that they may be cast face-first into the Fire”—or he said, “upon their nostrils.”

Al-Zuhri said: “We hold that Islam is the verbal declaration, whereas faith is action; the two expressions are close.” Muslim transmitted it through this route, and al-Bukhari transmitted it from al-Zuhri’s hadith.