I heard Hajjaj giving a sermon and mentioning something I found objectionable, so I recalled the saying of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, "It is not fitting for a believer to humiliate himself."I asked, "Messenger of Allah, how does he humiliate himself?"He replied, "By exposing himself to trials he cannot bear."
سمعت الحجاج يخطب فذكر شيئا أنكرته فذكرت مقال رسول الله ﷺ: لا ينبغي للمؤمن أن يذل نفسه قلت: يا رسول الله كيف يذل نفسه؟ قال: يتعرض من البلاء لما لا يطيق.
Tabarani related it in al-Awsat (5353) from Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Abu Khaythama, who said, Zakariya bin Yahya Dareer told us, Shababa told us, from Warqa bin Umar, from Abdul-Kareem, from Mujahid, from Ibn Umar, who said, and then he narrated it.Bazzar related it in al-Kashf (3323) from Zakariya bin Yahya Dareer Baghdadi with this same chain, except that the printed edition of al-Kashf has, "Shababa bin Sawwar told us, al-Ala bin Abdul-Kareem told us, from Mujahid." The correct version is what appears in al-Awsat. Tabarani said afterward, "No one has related this hadith from Mujahid except Abdul-Kareem, and it is not related from Ibn Umar except through this chain."I say, Abdul-Kareem appears to be Ibn Malik Jazari, who is trustworthy. As for Zakariya bin Yahya Dareer, Khatib gave him a biographical entry in his Tarikh (8/457) without mentioning any criticism or endorsement of him, but a number of scholars related from him, including leading masters of hadith, so someone like him may have his hadith graded hasan unless the opposite becomes apparent. Iraqi deemed this chain sound in Takhrij al-Ihya (1/152).Haythami said in Majma al-Zawaid (2747), "Bazzar and Tabarani related it in al-Awsat and al-Kabir in abridged form. The chain in al-Kabir from Tabarani is good, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih, except for Zakariya bin Yahya bin Ayyub Dareer, who related from a group and from whom a group related, and no one has spoken against him." End of quote.The chain appears in the printed edition of Tabarani as follows, "Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Abu Khaythama told us, who said, Zakariya bin Yahya Madaini told us, Shababa bin Sawwar told us, from Warqa bin Umar, from Ibn Abu Najeeh, from Mujahid, from Ibn Umar." This is how "Ibn Abu Najeeh" appears here, and it seems this is an error, since Tabarani stated explicitly in al-Awsat, "No one related it from Mujahid except Abdul-Kareem." Even supposing it were correct, this would not be a defect, since Ibn Abu Najeeh, whose name was Abdullah, is also trustworthy, and there is support for it.Something of similar meaning has been related from Huzaifa, who said, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "It is not fitting for the believer to humiliate himself." They asked, "How does he humiliate himself?" He said, "By exposing himself to trials he cannot bear."Tirmidhi (2254), Ibn Majah (4016), and Ahmad (23444) all related it, all through the hadith of Amr bin Asim, who said, Hammad bin Salama told us, from Ali bin Zayd, from Hasan, from Jundab, from Huzaifa, and then he narrated it.Tirmidhi said, "This is a hasan gharib hadith."I say, its chain contains Ali bin Zayd, who is Ibn Jadan, whom the majority of scholars have graded daif. It has also been related in mursal form, from Hasan, from the Prophet ﷺ, and this version is more sahih.