We came to Irbaz bin Sariya, who was among those concerning whom this verse was revealed, "Nor [is there blame] upon those who, when they came to you that you might give them mounts, you said, 'I can find nothing upon which to mount you'" [Tawbah 9:92]. We greeted him and said, "We have come to visit you, to check on your health, and to learn from you."Irbaz said, "One day the Messenger of Allah ﷺ led us in prayer, then turned to us and delivered a powerful sermon that brought tears to our eyes and made our hearts tremble."Someone said, "Messenger of Allah, this seems like a farewell sermon. What do you instruct us to do?"He said, "I urge you to fear Allah, and to listen and obey, even if a black Abyssinian slave is placed in authority over you. Whoever among you lives after me will see much disagreement. So hold fast to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided successors. Cling to it and bite onto it with your molars. Beware of newly invented matters, for every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance."
حدثنا أحمد بن حنبل حدثنا الوليد بن مسلم حدثنا ثور بن يزيد قال حدثني خالد بن معدان قال
أتينا العرباض بن سارية وهو ممن نزل فيه {ولا على الذين إذا ما أتوك لتحملهم قلت لا أجد ما أحملكم عليه} فسلمنا وقلنا أتيناك زائرين وعائدين ومقتبسين فقال العرباض صلى بنا رسول الله ﷺ ذات يوم ثم أقبل علينا فوعظنا موعظة بليغة ذرفت منها العيون ووجلت منها القلوب فقال قائل يا رسول الله كأن هذه موعظة مودع فماذا تعهد إلينا فقال أوصيكم بتقوى الله والسمع والطاعة وإن عبدا حبشيا فإنه من يعش منكم بعدي فسيرى اختلافا كثيرا فعليكم بسنتي وسنة الخلفاء المهديين الراشدين تمسكوا بها وعضوا عليها بالنواجذ وإياكم ومحدثات الأمور فإن كل محدثة بدعة وكل بدعة ضلالة
[Its isnad is sahih] Tirmidhi transmitted it, Book of Knowledge, Chapter on holding fast to the sunnah and avoiding innovation, hadith no. 2676, from the hadith of Khalid bin Madan, with this wording, and he said, hasan sahih. It is also in Musnad Ahmad, 4/126, 127, and Ibn Hibban graded it sahih, hadith no. 102, as did Hakim, 1/95, 96, and Dhahabi agreed with him.