Azami 43

Imam Ahmad (12383), Abu Yaala (2863), Bazzar - Kashf Astar (100) -, and Tabarani in Al-Awsat (2627) all narrated it through the route of Abu Hilal, who said, Qatada narrated to us, from Anas, who said, and then he mentioned it. Its chain is hasan due to the discussion surrounding Abu Hilal, who is Muhammad bin Sulaym Rasibi, though his hadith is hasan. Baghawi graded it hasan in Sharh al-Sunnah (38). Moreover, he was not alone in narrating it. Rather, Abu Yaala (3863) narrated it, and from him Ibn Hibban in his Sahih (194), from Hasan bin Sabbah Bazzar, who said, Muammal bin Ismail narrated to us, from Hammad bin Salama, from Thabit, from Anas, who mentioned something similar. Muammal bin Ismail has been discussed regarding his memory, though he is acceptable for corroborating narrations.On this subject there are also narrations from Ibn Umar, Ibn Abbas, Abu Umama, and Ibn Masud, none of which is authentic in itself, though some of them can be used as corroborating evidence.Nawawi, may Allah have mercy on him, said in his commentary on Sahih Muslim, "This hadith is one of those whose meaning the scholars have differed over. The sound view, held by the verifying scholars, is that its meaning is that a person does not commit these sins while being complete in faith. This is one of those expressions that outwardly negate a thing, while what is actually meant is the negation of its completeness and its preferred state, just as it is said, 'There is no knowledge except what is beneficial,' 'There is no wealth except camels,' and 'There is no true life except the life of the hereafter.' We have interpreted it in the way we mentioned because of the hadith of Abu Dharr and others, 'Whoever says, there is no god but Allah, will enter Paradise, even if he committed adultery and even if he stole,' and because of the well known sahih hadith of Ubada bin Samit, that they pledged allegiance to him ﷺ not to steal, not to commit adultery, and not to disobey... to the end of it, after which he ﷺ said to them, 'Whoever among you fulfills this, his reward is upon Allah. Whoever commits any of these things and is punished for it in this world, that punishment is its expiation. And whoever commits it and is not punished, his matter rests with Allah. If He wills, He forgives him, and if He wills, He punishes him.'These two hadiths, along with similar ones found in the Sahih, together with the statement of Allah , "Indeed, Allah does not forgive that partners be associated with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whomever He wills" [Nisa 4:48], together with the consensus of the people of truth that the adulterer, the thief, the killer, and other perpetrators of major sins besides shirk are not thereby rendered unbelievers, but rather remain believers of deficient faith, whose punishment is dropped if they repent, and if they die persisting in major sins they remain subject to the divine will, so that if Allah wills He forgives them and admits them to Paradise straightaway, and if He wills He punishes them and then admits them to Paradise, all of this evidence compels us to interpret this hadith and similar ones in the manner described." End of quote.