Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) would say (on seeing students of hadith): "Welcome, in accordance with the instruction of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to instruct us regarding you." This hadith is sahih (authentic) and established, because the two Shaykhs agreed on using Sa'id bin Sulayman, Abbad bin al-Awwam and al-Jurayri as evidence; then Imam Muslim used the hadith of Abu Nadrah as evidence. I have counted eleven core narrations (usul) in his "al-Musnad al-Sahih" through al-Jurayri, yet they did not record this hadith, which is the first hadith on the virtue of the students of hadith, and no hidden defect ('illah) is known in it. This hadith has several chains which the scholars of hadith compile through Abu Harun al-Abdi from Abu Sa'id, and Abu Harun is among those about whom the imams remained silent.

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 travels a path in search of knowledge, Allah Almighty makes easy for him, in return for it, the path to Paradise; and whoever is held back by his deeds, his lineage will not bring him forward." Abu Mu'awiyah and Ibn Numayr also corroborated (mutaba'ah) this hadith.

This is the narration of Abu Mu'awiyah (reported from him by Abu Kurayb and Salm bin Junadah), in corroboration (mutaba'ah) of the previous hadith narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him).

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 travels a path to acquire knowledge, Allah will make easy for him the path to Paradise." This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim), but they did not record it! The wording which Za'idah narrated as marfu' (attributed to the Prophet) others have reported as mawquf (stopping at the Companion); as for the seeking of knowledge, there is no disagreement from al-A'mash in its chain.

It is narrated from Sa'id, the father of Ishaq bin Sa'id, that he said: I was with Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) when a man came to him and cited a distant kinship, so Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Know your lineages so that you may maintain your ties of kinship; for there is no closeness in a tie of kinship if it is severed, even if it is close, and there is no distance in it if it is maintained, even if it is distant." This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of Imam Bukhari, but neither of the two Shaykhs recorded it. As for Ishaq bin Sa'id (Ibn Amr bin Sa'id bin al-As), Imam Bukhari took most of his narrations from his father.

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: "Learn your lineages so that you may maintain your ties of kinship." This hadith also has a shahid (supporting narration) whose source is of the kind used for shawahid; and Muhammad bin Yahya says that Abu al-Asbat al-Harithi means Bishr bin Rafi'.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Jubayr bin Mut'im (may Allah be pleased with him) that a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah! Which part of the lands is the worst? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I do not know." Then when Jibril (peace be upon him) came, he (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "O Jibril! Which part of the places is the worst?" He said: I do not know until I ask my Lord. So Jibril (peace be upon him) went away and stayed as long as Allah willed, then came back and said: O Muhammad! You asked me which are the worst places, and I said that I did not know; then I asked my Lord which are the worst places, and Allah said: "Their markets." The two Shaykhs used all the narrators of this hadith as evidence except Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Aqil, while Imam Bukhari alone used Abu Hudhayfah as evidence; and this hadith is a basis (proof) for a scholar saying "I do not know".

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Jubayr bin Mut'im (may Allah be pleased with him) that a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah! Which are the worst places? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I do not know." Then when Jibril (peace be upon him) came, he (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "O Jibril! Which are the worst places?" He said: I do not know until I enquire of my Lord. Then he went and stayed as long as Allah willed, then came and said: O Muhammad! You asked me which are the worst places, and I said that I did not know; then I asked my Lord which are the worst places, and Allah said: "Their markets." Amr bin Thabit (Ibn Abi al-Miqdam al-Kufi) does not meet the condition of the two Shaykhs; I have mentioned it only as a shahid (supporting narration), and Abdullah bin al-Mubarak's narrating from him is what prompted me to mention it.

A similar narration is reported from Sayyiduna Jubayr bin Mut'im (may Allah be pleased with him). Abd al-Samad does not meet the condition of this book.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah! Which piece of land is the best? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I do not know." He asked: Which part is the worst? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I do not know." He said: Ask your Lord. So when Jibril (peace be upon him) came down, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I have been asked which place is the best and which is the worst, and I said that I did not know." Jibril (peace be upon him) said: And I too do not know until I ask my Lord. The narrator says: At that, Jibril (peace be upon him) trembled so violently that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) almost fell unconscious. Then Allah said: "O Jibril! Muhammad asks you which is the best place, and you said that you did not know; then he asked which is the worst place, and you said that you did not know. (Listen!) The best places are the mosques, and the worst places are the markets." This hadith has another shahid (supporting narration) from the hadith of Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both).