542 — “There are three about whom you need not ask: a man who abandons the Muslim community, disobeys its leader, and dies in disobedience; a bondwoman or bondsman who flees and dies; and a woman whose husband is away and has provided her with all her worldly maintenance, yet who displays her adornment in his absence. Do not ask about them. And there are three about whom you need not ask: a man who contends with Allah, Exalted is He, over His cloak—for His cloak is majesty and His waist-wrapper is might—a man who doubts Allah’s command, and a man who despairs of Allah’s mercy.”

Al-Bukhari recorded it in al-Adab al-Mufrad (590), as did Ibn Hibban (50) and al-Hakim (1/119)—without the second half—and Ahmad (6/19), Ibn Abi Asim in al-Sunnah (no. 89), and Ibn Asakir in In Praise of Humility and Condemnation of Arrogance (5/88/1), through the route of Haywah ibn Shurayh: Abu Hani narrated to me that Abu Ali Amr ibn Malik al-Janabi narrated to him from Fudalah ibn Ubayd, attributed to the Prophet. Al-Hakim said: “Authentic according to the criteria of al-Bukhari and Muslim, for both relied upon all its narrators; yet neither recorded it, and I know of no hidden defect in it.” Al-Dhahabi agreed with him!

I say: They were mistaken in some of what they said. Abu Ali al-Janabi was not cited by al-Bukhari or Muslim in their Sahihs, and Abu Hani—whose name was Humayd ibn Hani—was not cited by al-Bukhari.

Ibn Asakir said: “It is a good, singular hadith, transmitted solely by Abu Hani, and the narrators in its chain of transmission are trustworthy.”

543 — “Whoever considers himself great or struts in his gait will meet Allah, Exalted is He, while He is angry with him.”

Al-Bukhari recorded it in al-Adab al-Mufrad (549), as did al-Hakim (1/60) and Ahmad (2/118), through several routes from Yunus ibn al-Qasim, Abu Umar al-Yamami, who said: Ikrimah ibn Khalid narrated to us