English Translation

Al-Walid ibn Muslim told us: Thawr ibn Yazid told us: Khalid ibn Ma'dan told us, he said: Abd al-Rahman ibn Amr al-Sulami and Hujr ibn Hujr told us, they said: We came to al-Irbad ibn Sariyah, and he was one of those about whom was revealed: {Nor is there any blame upon those who, when they came to you that you might mount them, you said, 'I cannot find anything on which to mount you'}. We greeted him and said: We have come to you as visitors, well-wishers, and seekers of knowledge. Al-Irbad said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, led us in the dawn prayer one day, then he turned to us and admonished us with an eloquent admonition that made the eyes shed tears and the hearts fearful. A speaker said: O Messenger of Allah, it is as though this is the admonition of one bidding farewell, so what do you enjoin upon us? He said: I advise you to fear Allah, and to hear and obey, even if it be an Abyssinian slave, for whoever among you lives after me will see much disagreement. So hold fast to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly-guided caliphs; cling to it and bite onto it with your molars. And beware of newly invented matters, for every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance. Hayyah ibn Shurayh told us: Baqiyyah told us: Bahir ibn Sa'd told me, from Khalid ibn Ma'dan, from Ibn Abi Bilal, from Irbad ibn Sariyah, that he told them that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, admonished them one day after the dawn prayer, and he mentioned it. Isma'il told us, from Hisham al-Dastuwa'i, from Yahya ibn Abi Kathir, from Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Harith, from Khalid ibn Ma'dan, from Abu Bilal, from al-Irbad ibn Sariyah, that he told them that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, admonished them one day after the dawn prayer, and he mentioned it.