It is narrated from Sa'id bin al-Musayyib that when Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) became Caliph, he stood on the pulpit of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and addressed the people. After praising and extolling Allah, he said: O people, I know that you perceive harshness and severity in me. The reason is that I was with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and was his servant and slave, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) was, as Allah has said, "most kind and merciful to the believers." I was before him like a drawn sword (I was strict), except when he (peace and blessings be upon him) would sheathe me or stop me, and then I would hold back; otherwise, because of his gentleness, I would be severe with people. The chain of this hadith is sahih; Imam Bukhari used Abu Salih as evidence, and although Sa'id's hearing from Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) is disputed, according to most Imams it is established.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever is gentle, soft-natured and close to people (sociable), Allah has made him forbidden for the Fire." This hadith is sahih on the condition of Imam Muslim, but the two Shaykhs did not record it.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever gives people a fatwa without knowledge, its sin will be upon the one who gave the fatwa." This hadith is sahih on the condition of the two Shaykhs, but they did not record it, and I do not know of any hidden defect ('illah) in it.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do not write anything from me except the Qur'an, and whoever has written anything from me other than the Qur'an, let him erase it." This hadith is sahih on the condition of the two Shaykhs, but they did not record it. Mention of permission to write has already passed in the hadiths of Abdullah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with them both).

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.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Lying is not right, neither in seriousness nor in jest, nor is it right that a man makes a promise to his son and then does not fulfil it. Truthfulness leads to righteousness and righteousness leads to Paradise, while lying leads to wickedness (fujur) and wickedness leads to the Fire. It is said of the truthful person: 'He spoke the truth and did right,' and it is said of the liar: 'He lied and did wrong.' A man keeps telling the truth until he is recorded with Allah as 'Siddiq' (truthful), and he keeps lying until he is recorded with Allah as 'Kadhdhab' (a great liar)." This hadith has a sahih (authentic) chain on the condition of the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim); although most of its sentences are also narrated as mawquf (a Companion's statement), with this chain it is sahih on their condition.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The Jews split into seventy-one (71) or seventy-two (72) sects, the Christians also split into seventy-one (71) or seventy-two (72) sects, and my Ummah will split into seventy-three (73) sects." This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of Imam Muslim, but they did not record it.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The Jews divided into seventy-one sects, the Christians likewise, and my Ummah will divide into seventy-three sects."

Abu Amir Abdullah bin Luhayy says: We performed Hajj with Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him). When we reached Makkah, he was told that a man was preaching to the people of Makkah. Mu'awiyah summoned him and asked: "Were you commanded to do this?" He said: "No." He asked: "Then what prompted you to preach without permission?" He said: "We spread the knowledge that Allah has taught us." Mu'awiyah said: "Had I forbidden you beforehand, I would have cut off one of your limbs." Then Mu'awiyah delivered a sermon after Zuhr and said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The People of the Book divided in their religion into seventy-two (72) sects, and this Ummah will divide into seventy-three (73) sects; all of them will be in the Fire except one, and that one is 'al-Jama'ah' (the main body of the Muslims). In my Ummah there will emerge people in whom these desires will run just as poison runs through the body of a person bitten by a rabid dog (in his madness), so that no vein or joint remains free of it." (Then Mu'awiyah said:) O people of the Arabs! By Allah, if you do not uphold the religion that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) brought, then others are even more likely not to uphold it. These are chains by which proof is established for the authenticity of this hadith.