And as for al-Fadl ibn Muhammad al-Sha‘rani, some have criticized him without evidence, though he is trustworthy, as al-Dhahabi stated in al-Mizan. The report is corroborated: al-Daylami recorded it (1/2/226) through the route of al-Sulami, with his chain from Abu al-Ahwas: Abu Salamah narrated to us from Hammad ibn Salamah, through the same chain. Al-Bukhari also recorded it (2/239) through the route of Mansur, from Abu Wa’il, with the latter portion of it, but stopped it at Ibn Mas‘ud.

1626 — “Allah is beautiful and loves beauty. Pride consists in rejecting the truth and looking down on people.”

Ahmad recorded it (4/133–134 and 134), as did al-Harbi in Gharib al-Hadith (5/34/1–2). It was likewise recorded by Ibn ‘Asakir (14/271/2) and al-Khattabi in al-Gharib (97/1), from Sa‘id ibn Marthad, from ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Hawshab, from Thawban ibn Shahr al-Ash‘ari, who said: I heard Kurayb ibn Abraha say: I heard Abu Rayhanah say—then he related it, attributing it to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: “No pride will enter Paradise.” A man said, “O Prophet of Allah, I like to adorn myself, even in the lash of my whip and the strap of my sandal.” He said, “That is not pride. Allah is beautiful…”

I say: This is a weak chain of transmission, for it includes narrators who are unknown, among them Sa‘id—also said to be Sa‘d—ibn Marthad. Ibn Abi Hatim included his biography (2/1/63) and said: “He witnessed Siffin. He narrated from ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Hawshab, and Hariz ibn ‘Uthman narrated from him.” He mentioned neither criticism nor accreditation of him. However, Abu Dawud said: “All of Hariz’s shaykhs are trustworthy.” Ibn Hibban listed him among the trustworthy narrators, as he also listed those above this Sa‘id, the most prominent of whom was Kurayb ibn Abraha. Al-‘Ijli likewise declared him trustworthy. In any case, the hadith is authentic, for it has corroborating reports from the hadith of ‘Abd Allah ibn Mas‘ud