1637 — “Indeed, Allah creates every craftsman and his craft.”

Al-Bukhārī recorded it in Khalq Afʿāl al-ʿIbād (p. 73); Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim in al-Sunnah (357 and 358); Ibn Mandah in al-Tawḥīd (fol. 39/2); Ibn ʿAdī (263/2); al-Ḥākim (1/31); al-Bayhaqī in al-Asmāʾ wa-l-Ṣifāt (pp. 26 and 388); as did al-Maḥāmilī in al-Amālī (vol. 6, no. 13), and al-Daylamī (1/2/228), through several routes from Abū Mālik al-Ashjaʿī, from Ribʿī ibn Ḥirāsh, from Ḥudhayfah, attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with this wording.

Al-Ḥākim said: “Authentic according to Muslim’s criteria.” Al-Dhahabī agreed with him, and it is as they said.

I say: The wording in Ibn Mandah, al-Ḥākim, and al-Daylamī is: “Creator” in place of “creates.” Al-Bukhārī added at the end of the hadith: “And some of them then recited: ‘And Allah created you and what you do.’” Apparently, this is an interpolated addition. Al-Bukhārī then said: “Thus, He has informed us that crafts and their practitioners are created.”

He then narrated it through al-Aʿmash, from Shaqīq, from Ḥudhayfah, may Allah be pleased with him: “Indeed, Allah created every craftsman and his craft. Indeed, Allah created the craftsman of khazam and what he makes.” Khazam, pronounced with its letters vowelled, is a tree whose bark is used to make ropes.

1638 — “Do not help Satan against your brother. Once a fixed legal penalty reaches the ruler, he must carry it out. Indeed, Allah is Pardoning and loves pardon: ‘Let them pardon and overlook. Would you not love that Allah should forgive you? And Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.’”