Ahmad 6156

Its isnad is sahih. Abu Mughira is Abdullah bin Hajjaj Khawlani. Ubada bin Abu Lubaba, his reliability was already established at 781, and we add here the statement of Uzai, "No one who came to us from Iraq was more excellent than Ubada bin Abu Lubaba." Yaqub bin Sufyan said, "He is trustworthy, one of the trustworthy people of Kufa." Abu Hatim, Nasai, and others confirmed his reliability, and Ibn Abu Hatim gave his biography in Jarh wa Tadil 89/1/3.The first part of this hadith, "Worship Allah as though you see Him," its meaning has already appeared several times in the accounts of the questions of Jibreel, in the hadith of Umar and in the hadith of Abdullah bin Umar, the last occurrence being 5856. The second part of it, "and be in this world as though you were a stranger or a passer-by," has already appeared in the narration of Thawri from Layth from Mujahid from Ibn Umar, as a marfu hadith, with the addition "and count yourself among the dead," 4764, and it appeared similarly in the narration of Abu Muawiya from Layth from Mujahid, 5002. We noted in the first narration that Bukhari narrated its opening, "Be in this world..." and so on, from the narration of Amash from Mujahid.Hafiz said in Fath al-Bari 11:199, "The hadith has other paths. Nasai narrated it from the narration of Ubada bin Abu Lubaba from Ibn Umar, as a marfu hadith, and this is something that strengthens the aforementioned hadith, since its narrators are among the men of the Sahih, although there is disagreement over whether Ubada heard from Ibn Umar." This is Hafiz's reference to this hadith, but I did not find it in Nasai.In my view, no weight should be given to what Hafiz mentioned regarding the disagreement over whether Ubada heard from Ibn Umar, though I did not find this disagreement stated explicitly. Rather, Ibn Abu Hatim said in Marasil 51, "I heard my father say, Ibn Abu Lubaba saw Ibn Umar only once," as if indicating doubt about his having heard from him. And in Tahdhib it is said that Maymuni reported from Ahmad, "He met Ibn Umar in Syria."We have stated repeatedly the view held as more correct among the scholars of hadith, that mere contemporaneity is sufficient to establish the connectedness of a hadith's chain. Bukhari is stricter, requiring an actual meeting, but here the meeting has indeed been established, by the statement of Ahmad and Abu Hatim. So what more is needed after that, when the narrator is trustworthy and not known for tadlis?!See what comes later in Musnad Abu Hurairah 8503.