“Mus‘ab ibn al-Zubayr received word concerning something involving the Ansar’s appointed representative, and he intended to take action against him. Anas ibn Malik then entered upon him and said: ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: Treat the Ansar well—or,” he said, “kindly. Accept the good deeds of their virtuous ones, and overlook their wrongdoers.’ Thereupon Mus‘ab threw himself down from his couch, pressed his cheek to the carpet, and said: ‘The command of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, is to be obeyed most willingly.’ So he let him go.” ‘Ali ibn Zayd—namely, Ibn Jud‘an—is weak, but his hadith is sound when considered alongside corroborating reports. It also has a corroborating report from Abu Bakr al-Siddiq in Musnad al-Bazzar (p. 289, in its supplementary section).

917 — “Indeed, the people are my outer garment, while the Ansar are my inner garment. If the people were to take one valley and the Ansar another mountain pass, I would follow the mountain pass of the Ansar. Were it not for the migration, I would have been a man of the Ansar. Whoever assumes authority over the affairs of the Ansar should treat their virtuous ones well and overlook their wrongdoers. Whoever causes them alarm has caused alarm to me.” He, peace and blessings be upon him, gestured toward himself.

Al-Hakim (4/79) and Ahmad (5/307) transmitted it through the route of Ibn Wahb: Abu Sakhr informed me that Yahya ibn al-Nadr al-Ansari told him that he heard Abu Qatadah say: “I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say from the pulpit to the Ansar”—and he cited it. Al-Hakim said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” Al-Dhahabi agreed with him.

I say: It is as they both said. All its narrators are trustworthy and are narrators of Muslim, apart from Yahya ibn al-Nadr, who is trustworthy. Al-Haythami said (10/35): “Ahmad transmitted it, and its narrators are narrators of the Sahih, apart from Yahya ibn al-Nadr al-Ansari, who is trustworthy.”