2064 — “When he heard something about a man, he would not say, ‘What is the matter with So-and-so that he says such-and-such?’ Rather, he would say: ‘What is the matter with people who say such-and-such?’”

Abu Dawud (2/288—Taziyah edition) narrated it, as did al-Bayhaqi in al-Dala’il (1/237), through ‘Abd al-Hamid al-Himmani, who said: al-A‘mash narrated to us from Muslim, from Masruq, from ‘A’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, who then cited it. I say: This is a chain whose narrators are trustworthy and used by both al-Bukhari and Muslim, except for al-Himmani—whose father’s name was ‘Abd al-Rahman—regarding whom al-Hafiz said: “Truthful, but he makes mistakes.”

However, Abu Mu‘awiyah corroborated him from al-A‘mash with the wording: “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, granted a concession regarding a matter, but some people refrained from it out of scrupulousness. This reached the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and he became angry, until anger could be seen on his face. He then said: ‘What is the matter with people who turn away from that for which I have been granted a concession? By Allah, I know Allah better than they do, and I am more fearful of Him.’” Muslim (7/90) and Ahmad (6/45) narrated it.

Ahmad (6/181) and Muslim then narrated it through other routes from al-A‘mash, with similar wording. Al-Mundhiri said concerning the hadith in Mukhtasar al-Sunan (7/168/4620): “Al-Nasa’i also narrated it to the same effect.”

I say: It should be examined whether he meant something other than what Muslim and Ahmad narrated, and whether he meant al-Nasa’i’s al-Sunan al-Sughra or al-Sunan al-Kubra. It appears that he meant the latter. It then became clear from al-Tuhfah that it is found in ‘Amal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah (no. 234), which confirms what I had concluded, for al-‘Amal forms part of al-Sunan al-Kubra.