This is for whoever obeys Allah, follows His command, and avoids His prohibitions.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The evidence for the correctness of what we said—that the interpretation of that is specific in the manner we described—is what:
873 - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm narrated to me, he said: Ibn ʿUlayya narrated to us; and al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā narrated to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, all from Bahz ibn Ḥakīm, from his father, from his grandfather, he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, Peace and blessings of God be upon him, say: "Indeed, you complete seventy nations"—Yaʿqūb said in his narration: "you are the last of them"—and al-Ḥasan said: "you are the best of them and the most honorable of them to Allah." (1)
So this report from the Prophet, Peace and blessings of God be upon him, has informed that the Children of Israel were not favored over the nation of Muḥammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and that the meaning of His statement: {and We favored them over the worlds} [al-Jāthiyah: 16] and His statement: {and that I favored you over the worlds} is according to what we have explained of its interpretation.
Notes
- (1) Hadith: 873 – Bahz, with a fatḥa on the bāʾ and a sukūn on the hāʾ: he is Ibn Ḥakīm ibn Muʿāwiya ibn Ḥayda al-Qushayrī. He is trustworthy; Ibn Maʿīn, Ibn al-Madīnī, and others declared him trustworthy, and there is no valid proof for anyone who spoke against him. Al-Bukhārī wrote his biography in al-Kabīr (1/2/143), as did Ibn Abī Ḥātim in al-Jarḥ wa-l-Taʿdīl (1/430–431). Indeed, al-Bukhārī cited him suspended (taʿlīqan) in the Ṣaḥīḥ, as al-Ḥāfiẓ mentioned in al-Iṣāba (6: 112) under the entry of his grandfather. His father, Ḥakīm ibn Muʿāwiya, was a trustworthy Successor (Tabi'i); al-Bukhārī wrote his biography (2/1/12), as did Ibn Abī Ḥātim (1/2/207). His grandfather, Muʿāwiya ibn Ḥayda, was a Companion whose companionship is established; Ibn Saʿd said in al-Ṭabaqāt (7/1/22): "He came as a delegate to the Prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him), embraced Islam, accompanied him, asked him about various things, and narrated hadiths from him." Al-Bukhārī wrote his biography (4/1/329) and said: "He heard from the Prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him)."
And this hadith was narrated by al-Ṭabarī here with two chains of transmission: from the route of Ibn ʿUlayya from Bahz, and from the route of Maʿmar ibn Rāshid from Bahz. These two chains of transmission will come separately later (4: 30 Būlāq).
And al-Tirmidhī narrated it (4: 82–83) from the route of ʿAbd al-Razzāq, from Maʿmar, from Bahz, from his father, from his grandfather: "that he heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him) say regarding the statement of God the Exalted, {You were the best nation brought forth for mankind}, he said: 'You complete seventy nations; you are the best of them and the most noble of them to God.'" Then al-Tirmidhī said: "This is a Hasan (Good) hadith. More than one narrator reported this hadith from Bahz ibn Ḥakīm like this, and they did not mention in it: {You were the best nation brought forth for mankind}." Ibn Mājah narrated it (4288) from the route of Ibn ʿUlayya, from Bahz. Imam Aḥmad narrated it in al-Musnad (5: 3 Ḥalabī) from Yazīd ibn Hārūn, from Bahz. He also narrated it (5: 5) from Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān, from Bahz.
And al-Dārimī narrated it (2: 313) from al-Naḍr ibn Shumayl, from Bahz. Ibn Mājah also narrated it (4287) from the route of Ibn Shawdhab, from Bahz.
Furthermore, Bahz was not alone in narrating it from his father Ḥakīm, for Saʿīd ibn Iyās al-Jurayrī also narrated it: Imam Aḥmad narrated it (4: 447) from ʿAffān, from Ḥammād ibn Salama, from al-Jurayrī, from Ḥakīm ibn Muʿāwiya, from his father, similarly. He also narrated it at length (5: 3) from Ḥasan ibn Mūsā, from Ḥammād ibn Salama, from al-Jurayrī. Ibn Kathīr mentioned the hadith (1: 160), attributing it to "the Musnads and Sunan collections." Then he mentioned it again (2: 214) from "the of Imam Aḥmad, the of al-Tirmidhī, the of Ibn Mājah, and the of al-Ḥākim." Then he said following it: "And it is a well-known hadith, and al-Tirmidhī graded it Hasan (Good)."
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