1137 — “A believer is to the people of faith as the head is to the body: the believer feels pain at what befalls the people of faith, just as the head feels pain at what befalls the body.”

It was narrated by Ahmad (5/340), Abu Nuʿaym in al-Hilyah (8/190), and al-Qudaʿi (3/2/2), through Musʿab ibn Thabit, from Abu Hazim, from Sahl ibn Saʿd, attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.

I say: This chain of transmission is weak. Its narrators are trustworthy, apart from this Musʿab, of whom al-Hafiz said: “Weak in hadith transmission.”

Zuhayr ibn Muhammad also corroborated him, from Abu Hazim; however, he said: from Abu Hurayrah, attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, in an abridged form, with the wording: “A believer is to another believer as the head is to the body. Likewise, the believer is pained by what befalls the believers.” It was narrated by ʿAbd Allah ibn Ahmad in Zawaʾid al-Zuhd (p. 367): Al-Walid ibn Shujaʿ narrated to me; Al-Walid ibn Muslim narrated to me; Zuhayr ibn Muhammad narrated to me, with it.

I say: Its narrators are trustworthy and are among Muslim’s narrators, but al-Hafiz said of this Zuhayr in al-Taqrib: “The reports of the Syrians from him are unsound, and he was deemed weak on account of them.”

I say: This hadith is one of them, for al-Walid ibn Muslim was Syrian; moreover, he practised concealment in transmission by smoothing the chain. However, it is supported by the hadith of al-Nuʿman ibn Bashir, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “The believers are like one man: if his head aches, all of him aches; and if his eye aches, all of him aches.”

It was narrated by Muslim (8/20), Ahmad (4/271, 276), and Abu Nuʿaym in al-Hilyah (4/126), through two chains from him.