Bayan Al-Hadith › Sahih Muslim › The Book of Jihad and Expeditions
Sahih Muslim 1812bصحيح مسلم 1812b
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، وَإِسْحَاقُ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، كِلاَهُمَا عَنْ حَاتِمِ بْنِ إِسْمَاعِيلَ، عَنْ جَعْفَرِ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ يَزِيدَ بْنِ هُرْمُزَ، أَنَّ نَجْدَةَ، كَتَبَ إِلَى ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ يَسْأَلُهُ عَنْ خِلاَلٍ، . بِمِثْلِ حَدِيثِ سُلَيْمَانَ بْنِ بِلاَلٍ غَيْرَ أَنَّ فِي، حَدِيثِ حَاتِمٍ وَإِنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم لَمْ يَكُنْ يَقْتُلُ الصِّبْيَانَ فَلاَ تَقْتُلِ الصِّبْيَانَ إِلاَّ أَنْ تَكُونَ تَعْلَمُ مَا عَلِمَ الْخَضِرُ مِنَ الصَّبِيِّ الَّذِي قَتَلَ . وَزَادَ إِسْحَاقُ فِي حَدِيثِهِ عَنْ حَاتِمٍ وَتُمَيِّزَ الْمُؤْمِنَ فَتَقْتُلَ الْكَافِرَ وَتَدَعَ الْمُؤْمِنَ .
This tradition has been narrated by the game authority (Yazid b. Hurmus) through a different chain of transmitters with the following difference in the elucidation of one of the points raised by Najda in his letter to Ibn Abas: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used not to kill the children, so thou shouldst not kill them unless you could know what Khadir had known about the child he killed, or you could distinguish between a child who would grow up to he a believer (and a child who would grow up to be a non-believer), so that you killed the (prospective) non-believer and left the (prospective) believer aside.
Grading
Sahih (authentic by the consensus of hadith scholars)
Chain of narrators
عبد الله بن محمد ← حاتم بن إسماعيل ← جعفر بن محمد بن علي ← محمد بن علي بن الحسين ← يزيد بن هرمز ← نجدة بن نفيع
Abdullah ibn Muhammad → Hatim ibn Isma'il → Ja'far ibn Muhammad ibn Ali → Muhammad ibn Ali ibn al-Husayn → Yazid ibn Hurmuz → Najda ibn Nufay'