881 — “The religion most beloved to Allah is the upright and tolerant way.”

Al-Bukhari cited it without a chain in his Sahih, in “The Book of Faith,” under the heading: “Chapter: Religion is ease, and the statement of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace …” He then quoted it. Al-Bukhari himself recorded it with a connected chain in al-Adab al-Mufrad, no. 283; as did Ahmad in al-Musnad, no. 2108; and al-Diya in al-Mukhtarah (64/37/2). All of them narrated it by way of Yazid ibn Harun, from Muhammad ibn Ishaq, from Dawud ibn Husayn, from Ikrimah, from Ibn Abbas, who said: “The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was asked: ‘Which religions are most beloved to Allah, Mighty and Majestic?’ He replied: ‘The upright and tolerant way.’”

Its narrators are trustworthy, but Ibn Ishaq practised tadlis and narrated it with an ambiguous link. Al-Haythami said in al-Majma (1/50): “It was narrated by Ahmad, al-Tabarani in al-Kabir and al-Awsat, and al-Bazzar. Its chain includes Ibn Ishaq, who practised tadlis and did not explicitly state that he heard it.” From this, you may know that al-Hafiz’s statement in al-Fath (1/78), after attributing it to al-Adab al-Mufrad and al-Musnad—“Its chain is good”—is not sound; and that the editor of al-Musnad went too far when he said: “Its chain is authentic!” I later found corroborating reports that strengthen this hadith, which I have documented in Tamam al-Nimah fi al-Taliq ala Fiqh al-Sunnah (vol. 1, p. 1).

882 — “Does one of you, reclining on his couch, suppose that Allah has not forbidden anything except what is in this Quran? Indeed, by Allah, I have commanded, admonished, and forbidden matters that are equivalent to what is in this Quran, or even more. Allah, blessed and exalted is He, has not permitted you to enter the houses of the People of the Book without permission, nor to strike their women or eat their fruit, when they have paid what is due from them.”