947 — “What is little yet sufficient is better than what is abundant yet distracting.”

Ibn ‘Adi narrated it (7/2) through Isma‘il ibn Sulayman al-Azraq, from Anas, attributed to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. He said: “Regarding this Isma‘il, Yahya said: ‘He is of no consequence.’ Al-Nasa’i said: ‘His hadith is abandoned.’” Al-Hafiz said in al-Taqrib: “Weak.”

It has a corroborating report from the hadith of Thawban. Al-Quda‘i narrated it (102/2) through Yazid ibn Rabi‘ah, who said: I heard Abu al-Ash‘ath say: I heard Thawban say—and he cited it. Yazid ibn Rabi‘ah is al-Rahabi al-Dimashqi, and he is weak.

However, it has a second corroborating report from the hadith of Abu al-Darda’, attributed to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, at the end of one of his hadiths. Its chain of transmission is authentic, and I have cited it in al-Mishkat (5218).

It also has a third corroborating report from Abu Sa‘id. Abu Ya‘la narrated it in his Musnad (1/295): Muhammad ibn ‘Abbad narrated to us; Abu Sa‘id informed us, from Sadaqah ibn al-Rabi‘, from ‘Umarah ibn Ghaziyyah, from ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Sa‘id—I believe from his father; Abu ‘Abd Allah was uncertain—who said: I heard the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, while he was on the pulpit, saying—and he cited it.

I say: The narrators in this chain are trustworthy and are narrators of the Sahih, apart from Sadaqah ibn al-Rabi‘. Ibn Abi Hatim cited him (2/1/433) through this narration, but mentioned neither criticism nor accreditation concerning him. As for al-Haythami, he stated categorically in al-Majma‘ (10/256) that he was trustworthy. Perhaps his basis for this was that he had seen him in Ibn Hibban’s al-Thiqat, as has occurred with him in many biographical notices.

Abu Sa‘id was the freedman of Banu Hashim; his name was ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Basri.