“Such a narrator’s hadith may be graded good; but declaring it authentic—as al-Hakim did—is far-fetched.” Shaykh Shuʿayb followed me in this assessment in his notes on Sharh al-ʿAqidah al-Tahawiyyah (1/94)! Yet, in his notes on Sharh al-Sunnah (4/454), he endorsed the author, al-Baghawi, in his statement: “A good, singular hadith.” Likewise, al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir graded its chain good in his exegesis of Surat al-Baqarah (1/33). He spoke well of its narrator, Bashir, then said: “Yet part of it has corroborating reports...”

I say: All of them concern the merit of Surat al-Baqarah and Al ʿImran, mentioned at the beginning of Buraydah’s hadith. As for the rest of the hadith—the hadith under discussion—he mentioned no corroborating report for it whatsoever. The scholar who traced the sources of its hadiths, our esteemed colleague Shaykh Muqbil ibn Hadi, did likewise, adding nothing to it, even though the latter half of the hadith is known from the hadith of Ibn ʿAmr, recorded by al-Tirmidhi, who graded it good, as well as by Ibn Khuzaymah, Ibn Hibban, and al-Hakim. Its sources have previously been cited under no. 2240.

The hadith in its entirety has another corroborating report: Yahya ibn Abi Kathir transmitted it in balagh form. Abd al-Razzaq recorded it (3/374/6014) from Maʿmar, from him. Thus, it is a sound report transmitted without a complete chain.

2830 — “Indeed, every building is a burden upon its owner, except—except what is indispensable.”

It is narrated from Anas, through several routes: