45 – “I was sent only to perfect noble (in another wording: righteous) character.”

Narrated by al-Bukhārī in al-Adab al-Mufrad, no. (273); Ibn Saʿd in al-Ṭabaqāt (1 / 192); al-Ḥākim (2 / 613); Aḥmad (2 / 318); and Ibn ʿAsākir in Tārīkh Dimashq (6 / 267 / 1) through the chain of Ibn ʿAjlān – al-Qaʿqāʿ ibn Ḥakīm – Abū Ṣāliḥ – Abū Hurayrah, traced back to the Prophet.

This chain is ḥasan. Al-Ḥākim remarked, “Ṣaḥīḥ according to Muslim’s criterion,” and al-Dhahabī agreed. Muslim, however, only cites Ibn ʿAjlān when coupled with another transmitter.

A supporting narration is found in Ibn Wahb’s al-Jāmiʿ (p. 75): related by Hishām ibn Saʿd from Zayd ibn Aslam, likewise traced back. Though its isnād is mursal, it is ḥasan, and together the evidence establishes the ḥadith as sound. Mālik also recorded it in al-Muwaṭṭaʾ (2 / 904 / 8) as a balāgh (unattached report).

Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said: “It is an authentic, connected ḥadith transmitted through several sound routes from Abū Hurayrah and others.”

46 – “These are for this, and those are for that.”

Narrated by al-Mukhlis in al-Fawāʾid al-Muntaqā (1 / 34 / 2) and al-Ṭabarānī in al-Muʿjam al-Ṣaghīr (p. 73) from Ibn ʿUmar, traced back to the Prophet, with the additional wording: “The people then dispersed, and they did not differ concerning predestination.”

Its isnād is ṣaḥīḥ.