- “Will you not pledge allegiance to the Messenger of Allah?”—he repeated this three times—“that you worship Allah and associate nothing with Him, observe the five daily prayers”—and he quietly added a private phrase—“and that you do not ask people for anything.”
It was narrated from him—peace and blessings be upon him—by ‘Awf ibn Malik; and three men narrated it from ‘Awf:
- Abu Muslim al-Khawlani:
Muslim (3/97), al-Nasa’i (1/229)—whose wording is cited here—Abu Dawud (1642), Ibn Majah (2867), al-Tabarani in al-Kabir (18/no. 67), and al-Mizzi in Tahdhib al-Kamal (34/292) narrated it through Abu Idris al-Khawlani, from him, with this wording.
- Abu Idris al-Khawlani:
Ibn Hibban (3385) and al-Tabarani in al-Kabir (18/no. 68) narrated it through Rabi‘ah ibn Yazid, from him, with this wording.
I say: There is no contradiction between the two chains, for higher and lower chains of transmission are well known among the scholars of hadith. Thus, Abu Idris’s having heard it from Abu Muslim does not conflict with his having heard it directly from ‘Awf.
- Rabi‘ah ibn Luqayt:
Ahmad (6/27) and al-Tabarani (18/no. 130) narrated it through Qutaybah ibn Sa‘id, from Ibn Lahi‘ah, from Yazid ibn Abi Habib, from him, in an abridged form with similar wording.
Qutaybah’s narration from Ibn Lahi‘ah is acceptable, as I have recently pointed out in several places in my writings.