“…and they seek Allah’s forgiveness, so He forgives them.”
For the point of these hadiths is plainly not to encourage frequent sins and acts of disobedience, nor merely to state that Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful. Rather, it is to encourage frequent seeking of forgiveness, so that Allah may forgive one’s sins. This, in particular, is the intended point of these hadiths, though some narrators have abbreviated it. And Allah knows best.
- “This is the trusted custodian of this Ummah”—meaning Abū ʿUbaydah.
Muslim (1297), al-Ḥākim (3/267), Aḥmad (3/125), and Abū Yaʿlā (2/831) narrated it through several routes from Ḥammād ibn Salamah, from Thābit, from Anas: “The people of Yemen came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and said: ‘Send with us a man to teach us the sunnah and Islam.’ He then took Abū ʿUbaydah by the hand and said…” He then mentioned it. This is Muslim’s wording.
Al-Ḥākim’s wording is: “to teach us the Quran.” He said: “Authentic according to Muslim’s criteria, though neither of the two recorded it with the mention of the Quran.”
I say: This hadith contains an important benefit: namely, that a non-mutawātir report is authoritative in matters of creed just as it is authoritative in legal rulings. For we know as a matter of necessity that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did not send Abū ʿUbaydah to the people of Yemen merely to teach them legal rulings, but also matters of creed. Had a non-mutawātir report not yielded religious knowledge in creed, nor constituted binding proof therein, then sending Abū ʿUbaydah alone to teach them would have been very much akin to futility. The Lawgiver is far above such a thing. Thus, it is established with certainty that it yields knowledge. This is the point at issue.
I have written two well-known treatises on this important matter, both of which have been printed repeatedly. Whoever wishes further detail should consult them.