3421 — “Whoever stabs himself will only stab himself in the Fire; whoever throws himself into a fire will throw himself into the Fire; and whoever strangles himself will strangle himself in the Fire.”

Ahmad recorded it (2/435): Yahya narrated to us from Ibn Ajlan, from Abu al-Zinad, from al-A'raj, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him; then he cited it.

Al-Layth corroborated him, reporting from Ibn Ajlan through the same chain, with the wording:

“Whoever strangles himself in this world, thereby killing himself, will strangle himself in the Fire ...” The rest is similar.

Ibn Hibban recorded it (5955—al-Ihsan).

This is a good chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy and are narrators used by al-Bukhari and Muslim, except Ibn Ajlan: al-Bukhari cited him in suspended form, while Muslim cited him in a corroborating narration.

However, Malik and others corroborated him in al-Tahawi’s Mushkil al-Athar (1/73), in its entirety.

Shu'ayb also corroborated him from Abu al-Zinad through the same chain, with wording like Yahya’s, except for the phrase concerning throwing oneself into a fire; and he placed the third statement before the first.

Al-Bukhari recorded it (1365). Al-Mundhiri attributed it to him in al-Targhib (3/205/2), but with the added phrase concerning throwing oneself into a fire, placing it at the end. Al-Naji criticized him in al-Ujalah (fol. 188/1), stating that it had undoubtedly been interpolated into it, as is clear to the scholars.

I say: He overlooked the fact that it is established in al-Musnad and Sahih Ibn Hibban. It seems evident to me that it was appended by the compiler himself, but he gave the impression that it was from al-Bukhari’s narration. He should have pointed out that it was an addition from another source—as he often explicitly does in similar cases—and attributed it to Ahmad or someone else.