Sunan Ibn Majah 3994
سنن ابن ماجه#3994Hasanحَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا يَزِيدُ بْنُ هَارُونَ، عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عَمْرٍو، عَنْ أَبِي سَلَمَةَ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " لَتَتَّبِعُنَّ سُنَّةَ مَنْ كَانَ قَبْلَكُمْ بَاعًا بِبَاعٍ وَذِرَاعًا بِذِرَاعٍ وَشِبْرًا بِشِبْرٍ حَتَّى لَوْ دَخَلُوا فِي جُحْرِ ضَبٍّ لَدَخَلْتُمْ فِيهِ " . قَالُوا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ الْيَهُودُ وَالنَّصَارَى قَالَ " فَمَنْ إِذًا " .
It was narrated from Abu Hurairah that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:“You will most certainly follow the ways of those who came before you, arm’s length by arm’s length, forearm’s length by forearm’s length, hand span by hand span, until even if they entered a hole of a mastigure (lizard) you will enter it too.” They said: “O Messenger of Allah, (do you mean) the Jews and the Christians?” He said: “Who else?”
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:
Our source also lists this ruling under Muhammad Fouad Abd al-Baqi, 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: 36:69