—a weighty responsibility. He then instructed him, forbade him, and admonished him, after which he said, “Do you recall the day when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared, ‘There is no obedience to any created being if it involves disobedience to Allah’?” Al-Ḥakam replied, “Yes.” ʿImrān exclaimed, “Allāhu akbar!”

In another wording recorded by Aḥmad from Muḥammad, it states: “I was informed that ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn said to al-Ḥakam al-Ghifārī—both of them Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—‘Do you know the day when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “There is no obedience in disobedience to Allah”?’ He answered, ‘Yes.’ ʿImrān said, ‘Allāhu akbar, Allāhu akbar.’ ”

Its narrators are trustworthy and of the calibre of the two Shaykhs, yet the chain is interrupted between Muḥammad—meaning Ibn Sīrīn—and ʿImrān, as the second report plainly shows.

Aḥmad, al-Ṭabarānī, and al-Ḥākim (3/443) also transmitted it through two routes from al-Ḥasan: “When Ziyād appointed al-Ḥakam al-Ghifārī over an army, ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn came to him, met him among the people, and said, ‘Do you know why I have come to you?’ He replied, ‘Why?’ ʿImrān said: ‘Do you remember the statement of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about the man whose commander ordered him, “Throw yourself into the fire!” The man rose to do so but was restrained. He later told the Prophet ﷺ about it, and the Prophet said, “Had he entered it, they would both have entered the Fire. There is no obedience in disobedience to Allah.” I only wished to remind you of this ḥadīth.’ ”

Al-Ḥākim remarked, “Its chain is authentic,” and al-Dhahabī concurred.

I say: that holds true provided al-Ḥasan—namely, al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī—actually heard it from ʿImrān, for he was known to practice tadlīs. Al-Haythamī said in al-Majmaʿ (5/226) after citing it through the route of ʿAbd Allāh ibn