My father married me to a woman from Quraysh. When she came to live with me, I paid her no attention because of how absorbed I was in worship, fasting and prayer. Then Amr bin As went to his daughter-in-law and visited her.He asked her, "How have you found your husband?"She replied, "The best of men, or like the best of husbands, a man who has not searched out our covering nor known our bed."He turned to me and rebuked me harshly, lashing me with his tongue. He said, "I married you to a woman of Quraysh of noble lineage, and you have kept her unfulfilled and done such and such."Then he went to the Prophet ﷺ and complained about me, so the Prophet ﷺ sent for me, and I came to him.He asked me, "Do you fast the day?"I said, "Yes."He asked, "And do you stand in prayer through the night?"I said, "Yes."He said, "But I fast and break my fast, I pray and I sleep, and I am intimate with women. Whoever turns away from my Sunnah is not from me. Recite the Quran once every month."I said, "I find myself stronger than that."He said, "Then recite it every ten days."I said, "I find myself stronger than that."One of the two narrators, either Husayn or Mughirah, said that he then said, "Then recite it every three days."He continued, "Fast three days of every month."I said, "I am stronger than that."He kept raising it for me until he said, "Fast one day and break your fast the next, for that is the best of fasting, and it is the fast of my brother Dawud."Husayn said in his version that he ﷺ then said, "Every worshipper has a period of zeal, and every period of zeal has a slackening. Whoever's slackening leads to my Sunnah has been guided rightly, but whoever's slackening leads to something else has perished."Mujahid said that when Abdullah bin Amr grew weak and old, he would fast days in this manner, joining some to others to gain strength from that, then breaking his fast after those days. He would also recite his portion of the Quran in the same way, sometimes increasing and sometimes decreasing, except that he would complete the count either in seven days or in three.He used to say afterwards, "That I had accepted the concession of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would be more beloved to me than anything equal to it, but I parted from him committed to a practice, and I dislike to depart from it to something else."
حدثنا هشيم عن حصين بن عبد الرحمن ومغيرة الضبي عن مجاهد
زوجني أبي امرأة من قريش فلما دخلت علي جعلت لا أنحاش لها مما بي من القوة على العبادة من الصوم والصلاة فجاء عمرو بن العاص إلى كنته حتى دخل عليها فقال لها كيف وجدت بعلك قالت خير الرجال أو كخير البعولة من رجل لم يفتش لنا كنفا ولم يعرف لنا فراشا فأقبل علي فعذمني وعضني بلسانه فقال أنكحتك امرأة من قريش ذات حسب فعضلتها وفعلت وفعلت ثم انطلق إلى النبي ﷺ فشكاني فأرسل إلي النبي ﷺ فأتيته فقال لي أتصوم النهار قلت نعم قال وتقوم الليل قلت نعم قال لكني أصوم وأفطر وأصلي وأنام وأمس النساء فمن رغب عن سنتي فليس مني قال اقرإ القرآن في كل شهر قلت إني أجدني أقوى من ذلك قال فاقرأه في كل عشرة أيام قلت إني أجدني أقوى من ذلك قال أحدهما إما حصين وإما مغيرة قال فاقرأه في كل ثلاث قال ثم قال صم في كل شهر ثلاثة أيام قلت إني أقوى من ذلك قال فلم يزل يرفعني حتى قال صم يوما وأفطر يوما فإنه أفضل الصيام وهو صيام أخي داود قال حصين في حديثه ثم قال ﷺ فإن لكل عابد شرة ولكل شرة فترة فإما إلى سنة وإما إلى بدعة فمن كانت فترته إلى سنة فقد اهتدى ومن كانت فترته إلى غير ذلك فقد هلك قال مجاهد فكان عبد الله بن عمرو حيث ضعف وكبر يصوم الأيام كذلك يصل بعضها إلى بعض ليتقوى بذلك ثم يفطر بعد تلك الأيام قال وكان يقرأ في كل حزبه كذلك يزيد أحيانا وينقص أحيانا غير أنه يوفي العدد إما في سبع وإما في ثلاث قال ثم كان يقول بعد ذلك لأن أكون قبلت رخصة رسول الله ﷺ أحب إلي مما عدل به أو عدل لكني فارقته على أمر أكره أن أخالفه إلى غيره
Its chain of transmission is sahih. This is a well-known hadith from Abdullah bin Amr bin As, transmitted from him by many of the Successors, and recorded by the leading scholars in their collections. However, I have not found it given in this detailed, extended form except in this one place. Part of it will come later through the narration of Mujahid from Abdullah bin Amr at numbers 6764 and 6863. Others also transmitted it from Abdullah bin Amr, relating portions of it, some long and some short. Here are their numbers in the Musnad, 6491, 6506, 6516, 6527, 6534, 6535, 6539, 6540, 6545, 6546, 6760, 6761, 6762, 6764, 6766, 6775, 6789, 6806, 6810, 6832, 6843, 6862, 6863, 6867, 6874, 6876, 6877, 6878, 6880, 6914, 6921, 6951, 6988, 7023.Bukhari transmitted it, 9/82-83, through Abu Awana from Mughira bin Miqsam Dabbi from Mujahid. This is the closest narration in wording that we have seen to Ahmad's narration here. The Hafiz, in Fath al-Bari, pointed in his commentary on it to many places in Ahmad's narration. Bukhari also transmitted a portion of it, 4/195, through Shuba from Mughira from Mujahid, a shortened portion. Nasai transmitted a shortened portion of it, 1/324, from Ahmad bin Mani from Hushaym, with the same chain as the Musnad here. He also transmitted it in two portions, 1/324-325, through Abu Awana from Mughira from Mujahid, and through Isa from Husayn from Mujahid.The authors of the Six Books and others transmitted parts of it, in its wording or in meaning, through many routes. Among them, Bukhari, 3/13-14, 31-32, 4/189-196, with seven chains, one of which is his chain through Mujahid that we mentioned above. The Hafiz said regarding the first of these chains, "He (meaning Bukhari) also related it in the following chapter through Uzai, and related it in the Book of Manners through Husayn Muallim, both of them from Yahya bin Abu Kathir. He also related it nearby through Zuhri from Abu Salama and Saeed bin Musayab, and through Abu Abbas the blind by two routes, and through Mujahid and Abu Malih, all of them from Abdullah bin Amr bin As, giving the hadith both at length and in short form."A number of scholars from Kufa, Basra, and Syria transmitted it from Abdullah bin Amr, at length and in short form. Some of them confined themselves to the account of the prayer, some to the account of the fasting, and some related the whole account. I have not found it transmitted by any of the Egyptians from him, despite how much they transmitted from him generally. Bukhari also transmitted it, 6/227, with four chains. He also transmitted it, 9/84, through two routes, and 9/262 through one route. Likewise 10/440 and 11/57.Muslim transmitted it, 1/319-321, through many routes, and likewise Abu Dawud transmitted it through various routes, and here are its numbers, 1388, 1389, 1390, 1391, 1394, 1395, 2427, 2448 (1/526-528, 2/298, 303 in Awn al-Mabud). Tirmidhi also transmitted portions of it, 2/62 and 4/63-64. Likewise Nasai transmitted portions of it, 1/242, 323, 324-327, with many chains. Ibn Majah also transmitted part of it, 1/210, 268, 269, and Darimi, 1/35 and 2/20, 471, and Ibn Saad, 4/2/9-10, with multiple chains. Tayalisi also transmitted part of it with different chains, 2255, 2256, 2273, 2275, 2280, 2288.Perhaps we shall be able to point out some of these chains from these books when they, or parts of them, occur in the Musnad, Allah willing. See number 2878, and what will come later.This hadith, taken as a whole, touches on several themes, marriage and intimacy with women, excessive prayer and recitation, and excessive fasting, and these themes appear in many of the narrations we have pointed to in the Musnad and other collections. It also contains two points not mentioned anywhere but in the Musnad from the hadith of Abdullah bin Amr bin As, namely his saying, "Every worshiper has a period of intense devotion..." and so on, and his saying, "Whoever turns away from my sunnah is not of me."As for the first of these, it will come again in the Musnad in similar wording at number 6764, through the narration of Shuba from Husayn from Mujahid, and twice at 6539, 6540, through the narration of Abu Zubayr from Abu Abbas Makki the poet from Abdullah bin Amr. Haythami mentioned it in Majma al-Zawaid, 2/259-260, and attributed it to the Musnad and to Tabarani in Kabir.As for the second, "whoever turns away from my sunnah," I have not found it from the hadith of Abdullah bin Amr in any other place, nor in Majma al-Zawaid. It is well established and well known from the hadith of Anas bin Malik, transmitted by Ahmad at 13568, 13763, 14095. Bukhari transmitted it, 9/90, Muslim, 1/294, and Nasai, 2/70. Darimi also transmitted it, 2/133, from the hadith of Saad bin Abu Waqqas, in a long hadith with a sahih chain.Indeed, I found that Khatib, in Tarikh Baghdad, 3/230, transmitted through Muhammad bin Jafar from Shuba from Husayn from Mujahid from Abdullah bin Umar, who said, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Whoever turns away from my sunnah is not of me."That is how it appears in Tarikh Baghdad, "Abdullah bin Umar," and I am almost certain that this is an error of a copyist or printer, and that the correct form is "Abdullah bin Amr," meaning ibn As, because this hadith is not known, as far as I know, from the hadith of Abdullah bin Umar bin Khattab, and because this chain matches the chain through which Ahmad transmitted part of this hadith in the Musnad at 6764, transmitting it from Muhammad bin Jafar from Shuba, and matches the chain through which Bukhari also transmitted part of it, 4/195, transmitting it from Muhammad bin Bashshar from Ghundar, who is Muhammad bin Jafar, from Shuba, and because Ahmad transmitted this very wording here, in this long hadith, through Husayn and Mughira from Mujahid. Indeed, there is hardly room for doubt here.As for Abdullah bin Amr's statement, "My father married me to a woman from Quraysh," in the narration of Bukhari, 9/82, and Nasai, 1/324, it reads "a woman of noble lineage." The Hafiz mentioned in Fath al-Bari that she was Umm Muhammad bint Muhayya bin Juz Zubaydi, the ally of Quraysh, and he quoted this from Zubayr bin Bakkar and others. However, the Hafiz did not mention this Umm Muhammad in Isaba, nor did anyone else mention her among the Companions, even though the implication is that she was a Companion. And Ibn Saad, when he gave the biography of Muhayya, 4/1/145-146, mentioned among his children only a daughter who was married to Fadl bin Abbas and bore him Umm Kulthum. It appears, then, that he had another daughter or more.Muhayya, with fatha on the first mim, sakin ha, kasra on the second mim, and a light fatha ya. Juz, with fatha on the jim, sakin za, ending in a hamza. Zubaydi, with damma on the za.His statement, "I began not to concern myself with her," comes from the root hawsh, meaning to gather or collect. It is said, "ihtashtu the game" and "ahashtuhu," meaning I drove it from its surroundings and gathered it so that it moved into the trap, and "ihtawasha the people so-and-so" means they placed him in their midst, and "so-and-so does not tahash over something" means he does not bother to gather himself over it, due to his lack of concern for it. See Maqayees, 2/119, and Lisan, 8/178-180.Kanna, with fatha on the kaf and a doubled nun, means the wife of one's son, and is also used for the wife of one's brother. As for her saying, "or like the best of husbands," in a copy in the margin of M it reads "the best of husbands" without the initial "like." Buula is the plural of bal, meaning husband.As for her saying, "he has never searched through our kanaf," the Hafiz said, with fatha on the kaf and the nun followed by a fa, it means covering or side. By this she meant to allude to his not having had intercourse with her, since it is customary for a man to put his hand with his wife into the inner details of her affairs. This, from the Hafiz, may Allah have mercy on him, is a mixing of one meaning into another. The fact is that Ibn Athir vocalized it in Nihaya with kasra on the kaf and sakin nun, and explained kinf with this vocalization as meaning a container, then said, that is, he did not put his hand with her as a man puts his hand with his wife into the inner details of her affairs, and this is one meaning. Ibn Athir then said, but it is mostly transmitted with fatha on the kaf and the nun, from kanaf, meaning side, meaning that he did not approach her. This is another meaning, and the Hafiz mixed the two together without any correspondence between them. Bukhari's narration has fatha on the kaf and the nun in all the copies of Yunayniyya.As for his statement "fa'adhamani," with fatha on the ayn and the dhal, Ibn Faris said in Maqayees, 4/258, that Khalil said, the root of adhm is biting, then one says, "adhamahu bilisanihi yadhimuhu adhman," meaning he bit him with his tongue. Zamakhshari said in Asas, among the figurative usages, "I saw him adhim his companion," meaning he bit him with his tongue, and adhaim means rebukes. So his subsequent statement, "and he bit me," is an explanatory addition, and "with his tongue" is an indicator of the figurative usage. Zamakhshari said in Asas, among the figurative usages, "he bit him with his tongue" means he criticized him. Ibn Faris said in Maqayees, 4/48, after establishing that the root of biting is gripping something with the teeth, then it is applied to say, "I bit the man," meaning I criticized him with what was not proper. In copy K it reads "he blamed me" instead of "fa'adhamani." What we have adopted is what is established in copies H and M.As for his statement, "so you have restrained her," Ibn Athir said, this comes from adl, meaning prevention. He meant, you have not treated her as husbands treat their wives, and you have not let her manage her own affairs, so it is as if you had restrained her.As for his statement, "and I did, and I did," this is what appears in copy H, while in copy K it is "and I did" just once, and both instances were omitted in copy M.Shirra, with kasra on the shin and a doubled fatha ra, means energy and eagerness. Fatra means slackening and weakness, stillness after intensity, and softness after severity.As for his statement, "when he grows old," in copy K it has "hina" instead of "haythu." As for his statement, "then he prevails after those days," he means after them. In a copy in the margin of M it is "yaid," a present tense verb. As for his statement, "that which is weighed against it," in the passive form, meaning weighed, that is, against everything of this world that corresponds to it, as we quoted this explanation from Fath al-Bari earlier in hadith 3698. As for his statement, "or adala," with fatha on the ayn and dal in the active form, as it is vocalized in copy K, meaning equaled, and the meaning is close in both readings.