It has a corroborating report from Abu Hurayrah, which will appear under no. 982, with the wording: “Whoever departs from obedience.”
- “His Companions would exchange recitations of poetry and recall matters from the Age of Ignorance while he remained silent; at times, he would smile along with them.”
Al-Tirmidhi (2/139), al-Tayalisi (p. 105, no. 771), and Ahmad (5/86, 88, 91, 105) narrated it from Sammak ibn Harb, from Jabir ibn Samurah, who said:
“I sat with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, more than one hundred times, and his Companions would...” etc.
The wording is al-Tirmidhi’s, and he said: “A good, authentic hadith.”
I say: Sammak explicitly stated that he heard it from Jabir in one of Ahmad’s narrations, and its chain meets Muslim’s conditions. Ibn Abi Shaybah also narrated it, as cited in al-Fath (10/444).
It has a corroborating report, similar in wording, from Abu Umamah, narrated by al-Tabarani. However, al-Haythami said (8/128): “It contains Muhammad ibn al-Fadl ibn Atiyyah, who is an abandoned narrator and a liar.”
Al-Iraqi then attributed this hadith (2/340) to Muslim, on the authority of Ibn Samurah, but I have not found anyone who agreed with him in this. Al-Nabulsi, in al-Dhakha'ir (1/124–125), attributed it among the Six only to al-Tirmidhi. I then found it in Muslim (2/132), conveying the same meaning within the course of a hadith; al-Bayhaqi also narrated it (10/240).