935 — “The believer is guileless and noble, whereas the wicked person is deceitful and vile.”

It was related by al-Bukhārī in al-Adab al-Mufrad (418), Abū Dāwūd (4790), al-Tirmidhī (1/356), al-Ḥākim (1/43), al-ʿUqaylī in al-Ḍuʿafāʾ (p. 56), and Ibn ʿAdī in al-Kāmil (33/2), through Bishr ibn Rāfiʿ, from Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said it—then he mentioned it. Al-Tirmidhī said: “It is a singular hadith; we know it only through this route.”

That is what he said, but there is a point requiring scrutiny, as is shown by al-ʿUqaylī’s statement: “No one corroborates Bishr ibn Rāfiʿ in it except someone whose weakness is close to his.”

I say: This Bishr is weak in hadith, as stated in al-Taqrīb. However, al-Ḥajjāj ibn Farāfiṣah corroborated him, reporting it from Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr with the same chain. It was related by Abū Dāwūd; al-Ṭaḥāwī in Mushkil al-Āthār (4/202); Aḥmad (2/394); al-Quḍāʿī in Musnad al-Shihāb (3/2/1–2); Abū Nuʿaym (3/11); al-Khaṭīb (9/38); and al-Ḥākim as well. He also included it in Maʿrifat ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth (p. 117). In al-Mustadrak, he said: “Concerning al-Ḥajjāj ibn Farāfiṣah, Ibn Maʿīn said, ‘There is no harm in him,’ and Abū Ḥātim said, ‘He is a righteous, devout shaykh.’”

Yet, in Maʿrifat al-ʿUlūm, he deemed it defective on the grounds that al-Ḥajjāj did not name his shaykh in Sufyān’s narration from him; rather, he said: “From a man, from Abū Salamah.” This is the narration of Aḥmad and Abū Dāwūd. But this is not a damaging hidden defect, for Sufyān named him on his authority in some other narrations, and this is reliably established from him. Concerning this al-Ḥajjāj, al-Ḥāfiẓ said in al-Taqrīb: “Truthful and devout, but prone to error.”