“… in character.”

793 — “Whoever acquires knowledge from the stars has acquired a branch of sorcery.”

Abū Dāwūd (3905), Ibn Mājah (3726), Aḥmad (1/227, 311), and al-Ḥarbī in al-Gharīb (5/195/1) narrated it through ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-Akhnas, from al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh, from Yūsuf ibn Māhak, from Ibn ʿAbbās, attributed to the Prophet.

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. All its narrators are reliable. Aḥmad, Ibn Maʿīn, Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī, and Ibn Ḥibbān deemed ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-Akhnas reliable, though Ibn Ḥibbān said, “He makes many mistakes.” I do not think much weight should be given to this statement.

794 — “By his good character, a man may attain the rank of one who stays awake at night and goes thirsty during the hottest parts of the day.”

Tammām narrated it in al-Fawāʾid (13/234/1–2) through ʿUfayr ibn Maʿdān, from Sulaym ibn ʿĀmir, from Abū Umāmah, who reported that the Messenger of Allah said this.

I say: This is a weak chain of transmission. Concerning this ʿUfayr, al-Ḥāfiẓ and others said, “Weak,” while others said, “Very weak.” Al-Ṭabarānī also narrated it through his route in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr, as cited in Juzʾ al-Ẓāhiriyyah (folio 24/1, collection 6). In al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr and al-Manāwī’s commentary on it, he added: “Al-Ḥākim also narrated it from Abū Hurayrah and said that it met the criteria of both al-Bukhārī and Muslim; al-Dhahabī concurred with him. Had the compiler preferred this report because of its authenticity, that would have been more appropriate than preferring this one despite its weakness.”