Adi said, "I came to the Prophet ﷺ while a gold cross was hanging around my neck."The Prophet ﷺ said, "Adi, throw off this idol from yourself."Adi continued, "I heard him reciting from Surah Baraah, 'They have taken their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah' [Tawbah 9:31]."The Prophet ﷺ said, "They did not actually worship them, but whenever they declared something lawful for them, they accepted it as lawful, and whenever they declared something forbidden for them, they treated it as forbidden."
أتيت النبي ﷺ و في عنقي صليب من ذهب، فقال: يا عدي! اطرح عنك هذا الوثن وسمعته يقرأ في سورة براءة {اتخذوا أحبارهم ورهبانهم أربابا من دون الله} قال: أما إنهم لم يكونوا يعبدونهم ولكنهم كانوا إذا أحلوا لهم شيئا استحلوه وإذا حرموا عليهم شيئا حرموه.
Tirmidhi (3095) narrated it from Husayn bin Yazid Kufi, who said, Abdul-Salam bin Harb narrated to us, from Ghutayf bin Ayn, from Musab bin Saad, from Adi bin Hatim, who said, then he related it. Abu Isa said, "This is a gharib hadith which we do not know except through the report of Abdul-Salam bin Harb, and Ghutayf bin Ayn is not well known in hadith."I say, Ghutayf bin Ayn Shaybani was narrated from by Abdul-Salam bin Harb, just as Ishaq bin Abu Farwa narrated from him, and Ibn Hibban mentioned him among the trustworthy narrators. It appears he is "acceptable," but Daraqutni mentioned him among the weak narrators, perhaps due to his being little known. I then found a corroborating narration for him in the tafsir of Ibn Mardawayh, who related it through the report of Imran Qattan, Khalid Abdi narrated to us, from Safwan bin Salim, from Ata bin Yasar, from Adi bin Hatim, who related it just like the report of Tirmidhi. Zaylai mentioned it in Takhrij Ahadith Kashshaf (2/66). This is a strong corroboration, though I have not come across a biographical entry for Khalid Abdi.It is also strengthened by what was narrated from Abu Bakhtari, from Huzaifa, who said, a man asked Huzaifa, saying, "O Abu Abdullah, what do you say about His statement, "They have taken their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah" [Tawbah 9:31]? Did they worship them?" He said, "No, rather, whenever their rabbis and monks made something permissible for them, they took it as permissible, and whenever they made something forbidden for them, they took it as forbidden."Saeed bin Mansur narrated it (1012, Tafsir), and Ibn Jareer in his tafsir (11/418–420) through various routes from Thawri, from Habib bin Abu Thabit, from Abu Bakhtari, who related it. But Abu Bakhtari never met Huzaifa.This interpretation, which was related by Adi bin Hatim, was also narrated from Ibn Abbas and many of the Tabiin, and it is the sahih view. For this reason, the imams of hadith included the report of Adi bin Hatim in their books, and Sheikh Islam bin Taymiya graded it hasan in the book Al-Iman (64).