The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: … and he mentioned it. Abu Nu'aym said:
“It is singular among the reports of Fudayl and Hisham; Husayn ibn Ali al-Ju'fi alone transmitted it from them.”
I say: He is trustworthy and among the narrators relied upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim, as are those above him in the chain. Thus, the chain is authentic according to their criteria. One wonders why al-Hakim did not include it in his al-Mustadrak!
The hadith has another route, transmitted by Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Firyabi: Sufyan al-Thawri narrated to us from al-A'mash, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurayrah, with similar wording.
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Awsat (2294), and al-Bazzar (4/162/3448—Kashf), through two routes from al-Firyabi, with this chain. Al-Tabarani said:
“No one narrated this hadith from Sufyan except al-Firyabi.”
I say: He is trustworthy and among the narrators relied upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim, as are those above him; thus, the chain is also authentic.
It has a corroborating report from Zayd ibn Thabit with similar wording, except that it does not mention the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, or Jesus. Its chain is authentic, and it has been cited in al-Zilal (245). *
- “What I fear most for you is a man who recites the Quran until its splendour is seen upon him and he becomes a support for Islam, then he sheds it, casts it behind his back, pursues his neighbour with the sword, and accuses him of associationism.” I said: “O Prophet of Allah, which of the two is more deserving of the charge of associationism: the one who makes the accusation or the one accused?” He replied: “Rather, the one who makes the accusation.”
Al-Bukhari recorded it in al-Tarikh (4/301/2907), and Abu Ya'la in his Musnad al-Kabir—as cited in Ibn Kathir’s Exegesis (2/265) and al-Matalib al-'Aliyah (4/273/4423). Through Abu Ya'la, Ibn Hibban recorded it in his Sahih (1/148/81), and al-Bazzar in