Then something came to my attention that changed my view regarding Qutaybah ibn Sa‘id’s narration from Ibn Lahi‘ah: his narration from him is considered sound, like the narrations of the ‘Abādilah from him. I learned this from al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi’s biographical entry on Qutaybah in Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’, and I have cited it under the earlier hadith (2843), so there is no need to repeat it.
Since this hadith is narrated by Qutaybah from Ibn Lahi‘ah, I have retracted my grading of it as weak on that basis and now deem it sound, hoping that Allah will forgive me my inadvertent and deliberate errors—for all of that is in me—and increase me in knowledge and guidance.
There is also a report cited by al-Bayhaqi (1/197) from Hilal ibn Yasaf, who said: “There is excess in everything, even in ritual purification, even if one is on a riverbank.”
Hilal was a trustworthy Successor, so it is as though he is alluding to this hadith and indicating that it was well known among the early generations. And Allah knows best. *
- “Indeed, they did not worship them; rather, whenever they declared something lawful for them, they deemed it lawful, and whenever they declared something forbidden for them, they deemed it forbidden. [That was their worship of them.]”
Al-Bukhari recorded it in al-Tarikh (4/1/106), al-Tirmidhi in al-Sunan (309), al-Tabarani in al-Mu‘jam al-Kabir (17/92/218 and 219), Ibn Jarir in his exegesis (10/80–18), and al-Bayhaqi in al-Sunan (10/116), through the chain of ‘Abd al-Salam ibn Harb, from Ghutayf ibn A‘yan, from Mus‘ab ibn Sa‘d, from ‘Adi ibn Hatim, who said:
I came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with a cross of gold around my neck. He said:
“O ‘Adi, cast away this idol.”