(1) This phrase forms part of a hadith agreed upon by al-Bukhārī and Muslim and narrated from Alī ibn Abī Tālib—may Allah be pleased with him. In summary, the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—dispatched a detachment and appointed a man from the Ansār as its commander. The commander lit a fire and ordered them to enter it. They disagreed over whether to comply and asked the Messenger of Allah about the matter. He said, “Had they entered it, they would never have emerged from it. Obedience is only in what is right.” The hadith appears in al-Bukhārī, 5/161 (Book of Military Expeditions, chapter “The Prophet’s Dispatch—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—of Khālid ibn al-Walīd to Banū Khuzayma”); 9/63 (Book of Legal Rulings, chapter “The Obligation to Obey Commanders Except When Commanded to Sin”); 9/88 (Book of Solitary Reports, chapter “Reports Concerning the Acceptance of a Solitary Report”); Muslim, 3/1469 (Book of Governance, chapter “The Obligation to Obey Commanders Except When Commanded to Sin”); Sunan Abī Dāwūd, 3 (Book of Jihad, chapter “Obedience”); Sunan al-Nasāī, 7/142 (Book of Allegiance, chapter “The Recompense of One Who Obeys When Ordered to Sin”); and al-Musnad (al-Maārif ed.), 2/46, 98, 221. (2) (A) and (B) read: “in disobedience.” Al-Albānī cited it in Silsilat al-Ahādīth al-Sahīha, 1/11–112, hadith no. 180, and said: “It was narrated by Ahmad (al-Halabī ed.), 4/426, 427, 436, and likewise by al-Tayālisī, no. 850, from Qatāda, who said: ‘I heard Abū Mirāya al-Ijlī say: I heard Imrān ibn Husayn narrate from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—that he said…’ He then cited the hadith. I say: Its narrators are trustworthy and, apart from this Abū Mirāya, are among the narrators used by al-Bukhārī and Muslim. Ibn Hibbān included him in al-Thiqāt.” Al-Haythamī also cited it in Majma al-Zawāid, 5/226, and said: “It was narrated by al-Bazzār and by al-Tabarānī in al-Mujam al-Kabīr and al-Mujam al-Awsat; al-Bazzār’s narrators are among the narrators of the Sahīh collections.” (3) Al-Tibrīzī cited it in Mishkāt al-Masābīh, 2/323, from al-Nawwās ibn Samān, and said: “He narrated it in Sharh al-Sunna.” In his notes, al-Albānī stated that it is an authentic hadith. It appears in al-Musnad (al-Halabī ed.), 5/66, with similar wording, while reports conveying the same meaning appear in al-Musnad (al-Halabī ed.), 4/432 and 5/66–67, and al-Mustadrak, 3/443. Al-Hākim said: “This hadith has an authentic chain of transmission, although neither al-Bukhārī nor Muslim recorded it.” See also Silsilat al-Ahādīth al-Sahīha, 1/109, 111, hadith no. 179. (4) The hadith of Abū Saīd al-Khudrī appears in Sunan Ibn Mājah, 2/955–956 (Book of Jihad, chapter “No Obedience in Disobedience to Allah”). The commentary in al-Zawāid states: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” See also al-Musnad (al-Halabī ed.), 3/67. Its meaning closely parallels that of the preceding hadith of Alī—may Allah be pleased with him. The Prophet’s wording—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—is: “If any of them commands you to disobey Allah, do not obey him.” The hadith also appears in Sahīh al-Jāmi al-Saghīr, 5/259. Al-Suyūtī attributed it to Ahmad, Ibn Mājah, and al-Hākim, from Abū Saīd. Al-Albānī graded it hasan (sound); its wording is: “If any of the governors commands you to commit a sin, do not obey him.”