813 — “There are two things that the son of Adam dislikes: he dislikes death, though death is better for the believer than tribulation; and he dislikes having little wealth, though having little wealth entails less reckoning.”

It was narrated by Aḥmad (5/427, 427–428, 428), Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī in al-Fitan (179/1), and al-Baghawī in Sharḥ al-Sunnah (3/559, manuscript of al-Maktab al-Islāmī), through ʿAmr ibn Abī ʿAmr, from ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn Qatādah, from Maḥmūd ibn Labīd, attributing it to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.

I say: This is a good chain of transmission; its narrators are trustworthy and are among the narrators of the two Shaykhs. Maḥmūd ibn Labīd was a young Companion, and most of his narrations were from the Companions, as al-Ḥāfiẓ stated in al-Taqrīb. The mursal reports of the Companions are authoritative, as is established in the science of hadith terminology. For this reason, al-Suyūṭī marked it as authentic in al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr, and explicitly stated this in al-Jāmiʿ al-Kabīr (1/19/2), saying: “It is authentic.”

814 — “These two are hearing and sight”—meaning Abū Bakr and ʿUmar.

Al-Tirmidhī narrated it (4/311): Qutaybah narrated to us: Ibn Abī Fudayk informed us, from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Muṭṭalib, from his father, from his grandfather—ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥanṭab—“that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, saw Abū Bakr and ʿUmar and said...” He then cited it. Al-Tirmidhī said: “There are reports on this subject from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar. This hadith is mursal, and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥanṭab did not meet the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.”

I say: Its narrators are trustworthy, but there is a discrepancy in two places in its chain of transmission:

First: in Ibn Abī Fudayk’s narration from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz—whether there is an intermediary between them or not. Qutaybah narrated it from him in this manner, without an intermediary, and Mūsā ibn Ayyūb corroborated him, saying: from Ibn Abī Fudayk, from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. Ibn Abī Ḥātim narrated it in al-ʿIlal (2/385) from his father: Mūsā ibn Ayyūb narrated to us with this chain. He said of it: “This is more likely”—that is, in comparison with the following route: