3266 — Al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali narrated to us: Ibrahim ibn Hamzah narrated to us: ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Ayyash al-Sama‘i al-Ansari narrated to us, from Dalham ibn al-Aswad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Hajib ibn ‘Amir ibn al-Muntifiq al-‘Uqayli, from his father, from his paternal uncle Laqit ibn ‘Amir. Dalham said: My father al-Aswad ibn ‘Abd Allah also narrated it to me, from ‘Asim ibn Laqit, that Laqit ibn ‘Amir set out as a delegate to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Laqit said: We arrived before the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him — and he mentioned a hadith in which the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "By the life of your God!"(1)

13 — Chapter: Concerning the oath — is it a sworn affirmation?

3267 — Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated to us: Sufyan narrated to us, from al-Zuhri, from ‘Ubayd Allah, from Ibn ‘Abbas: That Abu Bakr swore an oath to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to him: "Do not swear."(2)

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Al-Tibi said: The correct view is to say that the waw in his words "and I seek forgiveness of God" is for conjunction, which requires a preceding element that is omitted, and the contextual indicator is the word "illa" (except/but), because it is either a preamble to an oath, as in the saying of God, exalted is His majesty: {I do not swear} — as a rebuttal of the preceding speech — or the initiation of an oath. On both interpretations, the meaning is: I do not swear by God, and I seek forgiveness of God.

(1) Its chain is weak, linked throughout with unknown narrators. ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Ayyash, Dalham ibn al-Aswad, and his father al-Aswad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Hajib are unknown, and no authentication of them is recorded except from Ibn Hibban.
It was also narrated at length by ‘Abd Allah ibn Ahmad in the additions to "al-Musnad" (16206) — and we have discussed it extensively there — and by al-Bukhari in "al-Tarikh al-Kabir" 3/249, Ibn Abi ‘Asim in "al-Sunnah" 1/(524) and (636), ‘Abd Allah ibn Ahmad in "al-Sunnah" 2/485, al-Tabarani 19/(477), Abu al-Shaykh in "al-Amthal fi al-Hadith al-Nabawi" (345), and al-Hakim in "al-Mustadrak" 4/560, via the chain of ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Ayyash, from Dalham, with this chain.

(2) Its chain is authentic. Sufyan: he is Ibn ‘Uyaynah, and ‘Ubayd Allah: he is Ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Utbah ibn Mas‘ud.