He replied: “No.” He said: “Then have someone else bear witness to this!” He then said: “Would you be pleased for them to be equal in their filial devotion to you?” He replied: “Yes.” He said: “Then do not do so.”

Other wordings have also been reported in this account, including: “Fear Allah and treat your children equitably.” Al-Bukhari (3/134), Muslim, and others narrated it, with the additional wording: “My father then returned and took back that gift.” I have cited some of its wordings in Ghayat al-Maram (272–273) and al-Irwa’ (1547).

2848 — “Indeed, the best servants of Allah in this community are those who fulfil their obligations and bring contentment to others.”

Abu Muhammad al-Mukhlidi narrated it in al-Fawa’id (4/241/2), from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hajjaj ibn Rushdayn al-Misri: Khalid ibn Abd al-Salam narrated to me: Ibn Wahb informed us; he said: Qurrah ibn Abd al-Rahman and Abdullah ibn Lahi‘ah narrated to me, from Yazid ibn Abi Habib, from Ibn Shihab, from Urwah ibn al-Zubayr, from Abu Humayd al-Sa‘idi, attributing it to the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him. It includes a story.

I say: This chain of transmission is acceptable, were it not for the fact that Ibn Rushdayn has been criticized, and I could not find his shaykh, Khalid ibn Abd al-Salam. (1) More than one narrator has corroborated him, but they did not mention Ibn Lahi‘ah in its chain of transmission.