Sunan Abi Dawud 2757

سنن أبي داود#2757Sahih

حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الصَّبَّاحِ الْبَزَّازُ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنُ أَبِي الزِّنَادِ، عَنْ أَبِي الزِّنَادِ، عَنِ الأَعْرَجِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ "‏ إِنَّمَا الإِمَامُ جُنَّةٌ يُقَاتَلُ بِهِ ‏"‏ ‏.‏

Abu Hurarirah reported the Apostle of Allaah(ﷺ) as saying “A Muslim ruler is shield by which a battle is fought.”

Scholarly Authentication

The label above is the grade most of these scholars gave, each scholar counted once — one dissenting opinion no longer speaks for all of them. If any scholar calls a narration fabricated, that verdict is shown instead, whatever the others say. When they judged only its chain of narrators (“Isnaad”), the label says “Sound chain”. Each scholar's own wording:

Al-AlbaniSahih
Zubair Ali ZaiIsnaad Hasan

Our source also lists this ruling under Muhammad Muhyi Al-Din Abdul Hamid, the editor of the printed edition it was taken from. It is al-Albani's ruling printed again, so it is counted once.

In-book reference: 15:281