Sayyiduna al-Bara' bin Azib (may Allah be pleased with him) says: "Not every one of us heard hadith (directly) from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him); we had our own lands and occupations. But in those days people did not lie, so the one who was present (in the gathering) would narrate hadith to the one who was absent." This hadith is sahih on the condition of the two Shaykhs, but they did not record it. Muhammad bin Salim and his son Abdullah have been used as evidence, and Imam Bukhari included the Sahifah of Ibrahim bin Yusuf in his "Sahih".

It is narrated from Ubaydullah bin Abi Yazid that when Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) was asked about something and it was in the Book of Allah, he would give his ruling according to it; if it was not in the Book of Allah but something was narrated about it from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), he would state that; if it was not found there either, he would tell what Abu Bakr and Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) had said; and if nothing was found from them either, he would answer with his own opinion (ijtihad). This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim), and it is mawquf (a statement of the Companion himself), but they did not record it.