So I returned to the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—and burst into tears. Umar caught up with me, and there he was right behind me. The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said:

“What is the matter with you, Abu Hurayrah?”

I said, “I met Umar and told him what you had sent me with, whereupon he struck me on the chest with a blow that made me fall upon my backside. He said, ‘Go back!’”

The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said:

“Umar, what prompted you to do what you did?”

He said, “Messenger of Allah, may my father and mother be sacrificed for you! Did you send Abu Hurayrah with your sandals, instructing him to give glad tidings of Paradise to whomever he meets who testifies that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah, with his heart certain of it?”

He said, “Yes.”

He said, “Then do not do so, for I fear that people will rely upon it. Let them continue to act.”

The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said:

“Then let them be.”

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. Although Ikrimah ibn Ammar is one of Muslim’s narrators, there are reservations concerning his memory, particularly in what he narrates from Yahya ibn Abi Kathir. This, as you can see, is not among his narrations from him.

This incident has also been narrated as having taken place between Jabir and Umar. Ibn Hibban reported it in his Sahih with an authentic chain of transmission; its documentation has previously been given under no. 2355.

The hadith contains sound guidance for those who call to Islam: they should not relate hadiths concerning encouragement and warning without explaining their intended meaning in detail, lest they be misunderstood and people come to rely upon them. Thus, for example, it should be made clear: