"I was with the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) on a journey..." The ḥadīth continues: "Then he said: Shall I not inform you of the head of the matter, its pillar, and its peak?" I said: Yes, O Messenger of Allāh. He said: "The head of the matter is prayer, and its peak is jihād." Then he said: "Shall I not inform you of what controls all of that?" I said to him: Yes, O Prophet of Allāh. He took hold of his tongue and said: "Restrain this." I said: O Messenger of Allāh, will we be held accountable for what we say? He said: "May your mother lose you, O Muʿādh! Is there anything that throws people on their faces—or he said on their noses—into the Fire except the harvests of their tongues?" It was also narrated by al-Tirmidhī, who authenticated it, and by Ibn Mājah and others in a similar manner. Al-Mundhirī and others declared it weak due to a break in the chain, and this was explained by the scholar Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī in "Jāmiʿ al-ʿUlūm wa-al-Ḥikam" (p. 195). However, the ḥadīth is authentic when considering all its routes, especially this part about guarding the tongue, as it has supporting narrations found in "Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid" (10/300-301). Among its supporting narrations is what is in "al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr" from Mālik ibn Yukhāmir, raised [to the Prophet]: "Guard your tongue." Narrated by Ibn ʿAsākir. I said: And it was also narrated by al-Ṭabarānī (folio 59/1 from the selected part) through the route of Ibn Thawbān from his father from al-Qāsim from Abū Umāmah from ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir who said: "I said: O Messenger of Allāh, what is the salvation of the believer? He said: Guard your tongue, let your house suffice you, and weep over your sin." I said: And this is a good chain of narration.

- "Shave it all or leave it all." Narrated by Aḥmad (2/88) and from him by Abū Dāwūd (2/194 - al-Tāziyyah) and al-Nasāʾī (2/276) from ʿAbd al-Razzāq who reported from Maʿmar from Ayyūb from Nāfiʿ from Ibn ʿUmar. "That the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) saw a boy who had some of his hair shaved and some left, so he forbade them from that and said"—and he mentioned it. I said: And this is an authentic chain according to the criteria of al-Bukhārī and Muslim, and it was also narrated by Muslim