Ibn Ghanem reported, "When Abu Darda and I entered the mosque of al-Jabiyah, we met Ubada bin Samit. He took my right hand with his left, and Abu Darda's left hand with his right, and walked between us as we conversed quietly, Allah knows best what we were discussing, and that was what he said."Ubada bin Samit said, "If one of you, or both of you, live a long life, you will likely see a man from among the body of Muslims, meaning from their midst, who recites the Quran as it was recited on the tongue of Muhammad ﷺ. He will repeat it and proclaim it, permit what it permits and forbid what it forbids, and abide by its rulings. Or he recites it on the tongue of his brother as it was recited on the tongue of Muhammad ﷺ, repeating and proclaiming it, permitting what it permits and forbidding what it forbids, and abiding by its rulings, yet he will hold no more standing among you than the head of a dead donkey."He continued, "While we were in this state, Shaddad bin Aws and Awf bin Malik appeared and sat down with us."Shaddad said, "The thing I fear most for you, people, is what I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ mention, hidden desire and shirk."Ubada bin Samit and Abu Darda said, "May Allah forgive us. Did not the Messenger of Allah ﷺ tell us that Satan has despaired of being worshipped in the Arabian Peninsula? As for hidden desire, we already know it, it is the desires of this world, of its women and pleasures. So what is this shirk you are warning us of, Shaddad?"Shaddad replied, "Tell me, if you saw a man praying for the sake of another man, or fasting for him, or giving charity for him, would you consider that he had committed shirk?"They answered, "Yes, by Allah. Whoever prays for a man, or fasts for him, or gives charity for him, has indeed committed shirk."Shaddad said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, 'Whoever prays to be seen has committed shirk, whoever fasts to be seen has committed shirk, and whoever gives charity to be seen has committed shirk.'"At that, Awf bin Malik said, "Should He not then take from all such deeds the part that was done seeking His face, accepting what was sincere for Him and discarding what was associated with Him?"Shaddad then said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say that Allah says, 'I am the best of partners for the one who associates partners with Me. Whoever associates anything with Me, then the whole of his deed, little or much, belongs to the partner he associated with Me, and I have no need of it.'"
أنه سمع ابن غنم: لما دخلنا مسجد الجابية أنا وأبو الدرداء لقينا عبادة بن الصامت، فأخذ يميني بشماله وشمال أبي الدرداء بيمينه، فخرج يمشي بيننا ونحن ننتجي والله أعلم بما نتناجى وذاك قوله، فقال عبادة بن الصامت: لئن طال بكما عمر أحدكما أو كلاكما لتوشكان أن تريا الرجل من ثبج المسلمين- يعني من وسط- قرأ القرآن على لسان محمد ﷺ. فأعاده وأبداه، وأحل حلاله، وحرم حرامه، ونزل عند منازله، أو قرأه على لسان أخيه قراءة على لسان محمد ﷺ، فأعاده وأبداه، وأحل حلاله، وحرم حرامه، ونزل عند منازله، لا يحور فيكم إلا كما يحور رأس الحمار الميت. قال: فبينا نحن كذلك إذ طلع شداد بن أوس وعوف بن مالك، فجلسا إلينا، فقال شداد: إن أخوف ما أخاف عليكم أيها الناس لما سمعت من رسول الله ﷺ يقول: من الشهوة الخفية والشرك فقال عبادة بن الصامت وأبو الدرداء: اللهم غفرا، أولم يكن رسول الله ﷺ قد حدثنا: إن الشيطان قد يئس أن يعبد في جزيرة العرب؟ فأما الشهوة الخفية فقد عرفناها، هي شهوات الدنيا من نسائها وشهواتها، فما هذا الشرك الذي تخوفنا به يا شداد؟ فقال شداد: أرأيتكم لو رأيتم رجلا يصلي لرجل، أو يصوم له، أو يتصدق له، أترون أنه قد أشرك؟ قالوا: نعم والله، إنه من صلى لرجل، أو صام له، أو تصدق له، لقد أشرك. فقال شداد: فإني قد سمعت رسول الله ﷺ يقول: من صلى يرائي فقد أشرك، ومن صام يرائي فقد أشرك، ومن تصدق يرائي فقد أشرك فقال عوف بن مالك عند ذلك: أفلا يعمد إلى ما ابتغي فيه وجهه من ذلك العمل كله، فيقبل ما خلص له، ويدع ما يشرك به؟ فقال شداد عند ذلك: فإني قد سمعت رسول الله ﷺ يقول: إن الله عز وجل يقول: أنا خير قسيم لمن أشرك بي، من أشرك بي شيئا فإن حشده عمله قليله وكثيره لشريكه الذي أشركه به، وأنا عنه غني.
Ahmad narrated it (17140), and this is his wording, as did Tabarani in al-Kabir (7/337), Hakim (4/329), and Abu Naeem in al-Hilyah (1/268-269), all of them through the hadith of Abdul-Hameed bin Bahram, from Shahr bin Hawshab, that he heard Abdul-Rahman bin Ghanm say, then he mentioned it. Except that some of them did not mention his hearing it directly from Abdul-Rahman bin Ghanm.Its chain is hasan due to the discussion surrounding Shahr bin Hawshab, though he is hasan al-hadith. Ibn Main, Ahmad, Yaqub bin Sufyan, Bukhari, and others affirmed his reliability, while Shubah, Abu Hatim, Nasai, Ibn Hibban, and others criticized him. The reason for their criticism is that he made many mistakes, so when his error is established the hadith is weakened, but otherwise he is hasan al-hadith.As for Abdul-Hameed bin Bahram, he is among those who preserved the hadith of Shahr bin Hawshab accurately, though he did not rise to the rank of a fully trustworthy narrator, so he too is hasan al-hadith. Haythami also graded it hasan in al-Majma (10/53).