Al-Hakim and al-Dhahabi made no comment on it. The narrators in its chain of transmission are trustworthy, except that Ibn Abi Layla had a poor memory; thus, a narrator such as him may be cited as corroborative evidence and strengthened by other reports.

The hadith proves the prohibition of musical instruments, for a flute is an instrument played by blowing. It is one of the many hadiths that refute Ibn Hazm’s view that musical instruments are permissible. Another hadith on this subject has already preceded under no. 90, so refer back to it, for it is important. I have written a treatise refuting him; may Allah facilitate for me the preparation of its fair copy and its publication.

428 — “Whoever affirms the oneness of Allah, Exalted is He, and disbelieves in whatever is worshipped besides Him, his property and blood become inviolable, and his reckoning is with Allah.”

Muslim (1/40) and Ahmad (3/472; 6/394–395) recorded it through Abu Malik al-Ashja‘i, from his father, as a report attributed to the Prophet.

The father of Abu Malik was named Tariq ibn Ushaym. Abu Malik also narrated from him with the wording: “I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no god worthy of worship but Allah.” This hadith has already appeared under no. 409—the fourth report.

429 — “Taking omens is associationism. None of us is free of it, but Allah removes it through reliance upon Him.”

Al-Bukhari recorded it in al-Adab al-Mufrad (131); Abu Dawud (2/158); al-Tirmidhi (1/304, Bulaq edition); Ibn Majah (2/362–363); al-Tahawi (2/380), and in al-Mushkil (2/304); Ibn Hibban (1427); al-Hakim (1/17–18); and Ahmad (1/389, 438, 440), through Sufyan al-Thawri and Shu‘bah, from Salamah ibn Kuhayl, from ‘Isa ibn ‘Asim, from Zirr ibn Hubaysh, from Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud, as a report attributed to the Prophet, with this wording.

Al-Hakim said: