713 — “Rejoice, rejoice! Do you not testify that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that I am the Messenger of Allah?” They replied, “Yes.” He said: “This Quran is a rope: one end is in Allah’s Hand, and the other end is in your hands. So hold fast to it, for you will never go astray or perish after it, ever.”

Abd ibn Humayd recorded it in al-Muntakhab min al-Musnad (58/1): Ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us; Abu Khalid al-Ahmar narrated to us from Abd al-Hamid ibn Ja‘far, from Sa‘id ibn Abi Sa‘id, from Abu Shurayh al-Khuza‘i, who said: “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, came out to us and said”—then he cited the report.

I then found it in Ibn Abi Shaybah’s al-Musannaf (12/165) with this chain of transmission. Ibn Nasr also recorded it in Qiyam al-Layl (74), through another route from Abu Khalid al-Ahmar, with the same wording.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission meeting Muslim’s criteria. It also has a supporting mursal report, which Abu al-Husayn al-Kalabi recorded in his Hadith collection (240/1), from al-Layth ibn Sa‘d, from Sa‘id—that is, al-Maqburi—from Nafi‘ ibn Jubayr, as a mursal report.

I say: This mursal report has an authentic chain of transmission and is sounder than the connected version. Al-Tabarani connected it in al-Mu‘jam al-Kabir (1/77/1), through Abu Ubadah al-Zuraqi al-Ansari, who said: Al-Zuhri informed us from Muhammad ibn Jubayr ibn Mut‘im, from his father, who said: “We were with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, at al-Juhfah, when he came out to us and said ...”—then he cited the report. However, this Abu Ubadah is abandoned; his name was Isa ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Farwah.