2235 — “If, when you leave my presence, you remained in the same state as you are when you are with me, the angels would shake hands with you in the streets of Medina.”

Al-Ismāʿīlī transmitted it in al-Muʿjam (29/1–2): Muḥammad ibn Hārūn ibn Dāhir narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ghiyāth narrated to us; Ghassān ibn Barzīn al-Ṭahawī narrated to us, from Thābit al-Bunānī, from Anas ibn Mālik, who said:

The Companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, came one morning and said, “Messenger of Allah, by the Lord of the Kaʿbah, we are ruined!” He asked, “What is the matter?” They replied, “Hypocrisy, hypocrisy!” He said, “Do you not testify that there is no god but Allah and that I am the Messenger of Allah?” They said, “Certainly.” He said, “That is not hypocrisy.”

Then they returned to him a second time and said, “Messenger of Allah, by the Lord of the Kaʿbah, we are ruined!” He asked, “What is the matter?” They replied, “Hypocrisy, hypocrisy!” He said, “Do you not testify that there is no god but Allah and that I am the Messenger of Allah?” They said, “Certainly.” He said, “That is not hypocrisy.”

They then returned to him a third time and said the same thing. He told them, “That is not hypocrisy.” They said, “Messenger of Allah, when we are with you, we are in one state; but when we leave you, we become preoccupied with worldly life and our families.” The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then mentioned the above.

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy and have biographies in al-Tahdhīb, apart from this shaykh of al-Ismāʿīlī, Ibn Dāhir. Al-Khaṭīb mentioned him in al-Tārīkh (3/355) only through al-Ismāʿīlī’s narration from him, and cited another hadith which he narrated from him, but did not mention any criticism or accreditation concerning him. It appears, however, that al-Ismāʿīlī regarded him as acceptable, for in the introduction to al-Muʿjam he states that he clarifies the status of anyone whose route of transmission in a hadith is impugned because his lying in it is evident, because he is accused of it, or because he falls outside the body of hadith scholars due to being unknown and overlooked. And Allah knows best.

The hadith itself—that is, the hadith under this heading—is authentic, for it has many supporting reports and chains from Anas and others. Some of these have preceded under numbers (1948, 1963, 1965, and 1976).