but rather conditional; this is the position followed by the critical scholars, such as Ibn Hajar and others, including al-Mundhiri himself. How many reports of al-A‘mash transmitted with the formula “from” did al-Mundhiri authenticate, quite apart from others! This is not the place to demonstrate that.

Moreover, Abu Dawud’s addition overturns that criticism, since he explicitly stated in it that he heard them relating it from Mus‘ab. Thus, he heard it from a group, among whom Malik ibn al-Harith may have been one, and the fact that they were not named causes no harm, for they were a group whose anonymity is thereby remedied, as al-Sakhawi stated regarding a different hadith. And Allah knows best.

1795 — “Deliberation is from Allah, and haste is from Satan.”

It was narrated by Abu Ya‘la in his Musnad (3/1054) and al-Bayhaqi in al-Sunan al-Kubra (10/104), through al-Layth, from Yazid ibn Abi Habib, from Sa‘d ibn Sinan, from Anas ibn Malik, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said this. Abu Ya‘la added:

“No one is more accepting of excuses than Allah, and nothing is more beloved to Allah than praise.”

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy and were narrators for al-Bukhari and Muslim, apart from Sa‘d ibn Sinan, whose hadith is good, as has been mentioned more than once. As for al-Mundhiri’s statement (2/251), “It was narrated by Abu Ya‘la, and its narrators are those of the Sahih,” and al-Haythami said the same (8/19), this is one of their errors, since Sa‘d ibn Sinan is not among the narrators of the Sahih. Al-Manawi was misled by them, for, after citing this from them and mentioning that al-Suyuti attributed it only to al-Bayhaqi, he said: “This shows that the compiler erred in omitting it and preferring al-Bayhaqi’s narration.” He meant that al-Bayhaqi’s narration was defective, whereas Abu Ya‘la’s narration had narrators from the Sahih. For al-Manawi said concerning al-Bayhaqi’s narration: “Al-Dhahabi said: ‘Sa‘d was deemed weak.’ And al-Haythami said: ‘He did not hear from Anas.’”