—and for that reason I recorded it in al-Silsila al-Sahiha, no. 2834. It is further supported by the hadith of Abu Hurayrah that follows, whose wording is: “Oppose the *majus* (Magians).” Hence Ibn Hajar remarks in Fath al-Bari: “That is what is meant in the report of Ibn Umar, for they (the Magians) used to trim their beards, and some of them even shaved them.” Shaykh al-Islam (p. 28) writes: “The Prophet ﷺ first gave an unrestricted command to differ from the *mushrikun* (polytheists), then said: ‘Clip the mustaches and let the beards grow.’ The second clause stands in apposition to the first, for substitution can occur with whole sentences just as with single words. The phrase ‘differ from the polytheists’ therefore shows that the very principle of opposing them is intended by the Lawgiver; the specific action that follows merely exemplifies it. This is like saying, ‘Honor your guest—feed him and converse with him’: the initial injunction proves that honoring the guest is the goal, while the details specify what counts as honor at that moment. The same reasoning underlies the statement: ‘They do not dye [their hair], so differ from them.’ ” That hadith will be cited shortly; next comes the narration of Abu Hurayrah just mentioned, and its documentation is as follows. (5) Related by Muslim 1/153; Abu Awana 1/188; al-Bayhaqi 1/150; and Ahmad 2/153, 366, through al-Ala ibn Abd al-Rahman, from his father, from Abu Hurayrah. It has a corroborating report from Anas, cited in Majma al-Zawaid 5/166, where al-Haythami says: “Al-Bazzar also transmitted it, but in its chain is Hasan ibn Jaʿfar, who is weak and discarded.” Al-Tahawi likewise recorded it (2/333) through another weak chain.