al-Himsi, a trustworthy narrator whose reports appear in both Sahih collections. All the narrators above him are trustworthy narrators relied upon by Muslim, except Rashid ibn Saʿd. Although he was not among Muslim’s narrators—despite being trustworthy—his narration is corroborated. Thus, the chain through ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Jubayr—who was Ibn Nufayr—is authentic according to Muslim’s criteria.

The reason I have set this out precisely is that I saw al-Mundhiri state in his citation of this hadith in his book al-Targhib (3/300):

“Abu Dawud narrated it and mentioned that some narrated it as mursal.”

I feared that someone unfamiliar with this hadith’s chain of transmission might imagine that some narrating it as mursal undermines the hadith. I therefore wished to make clear that this “some” refers only to Baqiyyah, and that the narrators from him did not unanimously transmit it as mursal. Rather, the majority transmitted it from him with a connected chain, and this is correct because it agrees with the narration of Abu al-Mughirah, concerning whom there is no اختلاف in its transmission. Allah is the Granter of success.

Ibn Abi al-Dunya also recorded the hadith in al-Samt (4/34/1): Husayn ibn Mahdi narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Quddus Abu al-Mughirah narrated it to us through the same chain.

534 — “Most of the sins of the son of Adam are committed by his tongue.”

Al-Tabarani recorded it (3/78/1–2), as did Abu al-Shaykh in his Hadiths (10/2) and Ibn ʿAsakir (15/389/1), through Abu Bakr al-Nahshali, from al-Aʿmash, from Shaqiq, who said:

“ʿAbdullah, may Allah be pleased with him, recited the talbiyah (the pilgrimage response) at al-Safa, then said: ‘O tongue, speak what is good and you will gain; remain silent and you will be safe, before you come to regret it.’ They asked, ‘O Abu ʿAbd al-Rahman, is this something you say yourself, or something you have heard?’ He replied, ‘No; rather, I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say it.’” He then cited it.

I say: This is a good chain of transmission and meets Muslim’s criteria. Al-Mundhiri said in al-Targhib (4/8): “Al-Tabarani narrated it, and its narrators are narrators of the Sahih collections. Abu al-Shaykh also narrated it in al-Thawab, as did al-Bayhaqi with a good chain of transmission.”