Arba'un 11 — leave what makes you doubt for what does not

الأربعون 11 — دع ما يريبك إلى ما لا يريبك

The hadith of al-Hasan ibn Ali — 'the Prophet's grandson and his delight' in the wording of the text — the eleventh of al-Nawawi's Forty and of Ibn Rajab's commentary; transmitted by al-Nasa'i and al-Tirmidhi (2518), who graded it hasan sahih, and by Ahmad, Ibn Hibban (722) and al-Hakim through Burayd ibn Abi Maryam from Abu al-Hawra' al-Sa'di from al-Hasan; Abu al-Hawra's identity was disputed — most name him Rabi'a ibn Shayban, deemed reliable by al-Nasa'i and Ibn Hibban, while Ahmad was undecided and al-Jawzjani called him unknown; al-Tirmidhi's route adds 'truthfulness is tranquility and lying is doubt', Ibn Hibban's 'good is tranquility and evil is doubt'; weaker chains report it from Anas, Ibn Umar, Abu Hurayra and Wathila ibn al-Asqa' — Wathila's version adding, when asked who is scrupulous, 'the one who stops at the doubtful' — and it is cited as the saying of Umar, Ibn Umar and Abu al-Darda', with Ibn Masud's 'why turn to what troubles you when four thousand things around you do not?' and Umar's 'leave both usury and suspicion'; for Ibn Rajab its meaning reduces to stopping at the doubtful and guarding against it (Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam pp. 260–267).