And it is recorded by al-Bayhaqī in *al-Ādāb* (174) via the route of Abū Dāwūd, with this chain of transmission. Aḥmad also transmitted it in his *Musnad* (2698) from al-Ḥasan, and al-Bukhārī in *al-Adab al-Mufrad* (468), and likewise (791), and al-Ṭabarānī in *al-Kabīr* (12608), and al-Bayhaqī in *al-Sunan* 10/194, and in *al-Shuʿab* (6555) and (8010) via the route of Aḥmad ibn Yūnus—both of them (al-Ḥasan and Aḥmad ibn Yūnus) narrating from Zuhayr ibn Muʿāwiyah, with it.

Al-Bukhārī also transmitted it in *al-Adab* (791) via the route of ʿUbaydah ibn Ḥumayd, and al-Ṭabarānī (12609), and al-Bayhaqī in *al-Shuʿab* (8420) via the route of Sufyān al-Thawrī, and Abū Nuʿaym in *al-Ḥilyah* 7/263 via the route of Misʿar—all three of them narrating from Qābūs, with it.

And al-Qudāʿī transmitted it in *Musnad al-Shihāb* (306) via the route of Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, from Gharīb, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Deliberation, moderation, steadfastness, and silence are a part of twenty-six parts of prophethood."

And Mālik cited it in *al-Muwaṭṭaʾ* as a *balāgh* (2/954–955) from Ibn ʿAbbās, that he used to say: "Moderation, deliberation, and good bearing are a part of twenty-five parts of prophethood," thus making it a statement stopped at Ibn ʿAbbās (i.e., not attributed to the Prophet).

It has a supporting witness with a good chain from the ḥadīth of ʿAbdullāh ibn Sarjis, transmitted by al-Tirmidhī in his *Sunan* (2128) with the wording: "Good bearing, deliberation, and moderation are a part of twenty-four parts of prophethood."

And al-Khaṭṭābī said in *Maʿālim al-Sunan* 4/106: "A man's *hady* is his condition and his way, and likewise his *samt*. The origin of *samt* is the clear, open path."

And *al-iqtiṣād* (moderation) is taking the middle course in a matter and entering into it with gentleness, in a manner that can be sustained, as it was narrated that he said: "The best of deeds are the most constant of them, even if few."

He means that these qualities are among the characteristics of the prophets, peace be upon them, and among the traits counted as theirs, and that they are a part of the parts of their virtues—so follow them and emulate them in these.

The meaning of the ḥadīth is not that prophethood is divisible, nor that whoever gathers these qualities possesses a part of prophethood acquired or obtained through means. Rather, it is a honor with which Allah, glorified be He, has filled [them], and a distinction for whomever He wishes to honor among His servants: {Allah knows best where to place His message} [al-Anʿām: 124]. And prophethood has been cut off with the death of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.