The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, once came out to us as though bidding farewell and said: “I am Muhammad, the unlettered Prophet”—he said this three times—“and there will be no prophet after me. I have been given the beginnings, endings, and comprehensive forms of speech; I have been informed of the number of the keepers of Hell and the bearers of the Throne; indulgence has been shown to me; and both I and my community have been spared. So listen and obey as long as I remain among you. But when I am taken away, hold fast to the Book of Allah: regard as lawful what it has made lawful, and as forbidden what it has made forbidden.”

Ahmad recorded it (2/172 and 212). Ibn Lahiʿah is weak, and I do not know ʿAbd Allah ibn Murayj al-Khawlani. Al-Hafiz did not include him in Taʿjil al-Manfaʿah, although he falls within the book’s stipulated scope. Perhaps he did not exist at all, but was merely a figment of Ibn Lahiʿah’s imagination and the result of his poor retention. For in the other narration, Ibn Lahiʿah named him ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Jubayr, who is a known, trustworthy narrator among Muslim’s transmitters. And Allah knows best.

1473 — “Worship Allah as though you see Him, and be in this world as though you were a stranger or a wayfarer.”

Ahmad recorded it (2/132), as did Abu Nuʿaym in al-Hilyah (6/115), through al-Awzaʿi, who said: “ʿAbdah ibn Abi Lubabah informed me, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar, who said: ‘The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, grasped me by part of my body and said...’” He then mentioned it. This is an authentic chain of transmission according to the criteria of al-Bukhari and Muslim.

Concerning Ibn Abi Lubabah, Ahmad said: “He met Ibn ʿUmar in Syria,” as cited in Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, where no disagreement on this point was reported. In Fath al-Bari, however, he said (11/195), after attributing the hadith to al-Nasa’i: “It is a narration transmitted by narrators of the Sahih, though there is disagreement as to whether ʿAbdah heard directly from Ibn ʿUmar.” Abu Nuʿaym then said: “Al-Firyabi narrated it from al-Awzaʿi, from Mujahid, from Ibn ʿUmar, with similar wording.”

I say: It is found in al-Bukhari through al-Aʿmash, who said: “Mujahid narrated to me from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar,” with the same report, but without the words: “Worship Allah as though you see Him.”

1474 — “Worship Allah as though you see Him; for if you do not see Him, then He...”