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bayhaqi:18816 – Abū ʿAlī al-Rūdhbārī > Abū Bakr b. Dāsah > Abū Dāwud > Muḥammad b. al-Ṣabbāḥ > ʿAbd al-Raḥman b. Abū al-Zinād > Abū al-Zinād > al-Aʿraj > Abū Hurayrah

Abu Hurarirah reported the Apostle of Allaah ﷺ as saying “A Muslim ruler is shield by which a battle is fought.” (Using translation from Abū Dāʾūd 2757)   

البيهقي:١٨٨١٦ – أَخْبَرَنَا أَبُو عَلِيٍّ الرُّوذْبَارِيُّ أنبأ أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ دَاسَةَ ثنا أَبُو دَاوُدَ ثنا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الصَّبَّاحِ ثنا عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنُ أَبِي الزِّنَادِ عَنْ أَبِي الزِّنَادِ عَنِ الْأَعْرَجِ عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ ؓ قَالَ

قَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ ﷺ إِنَّمَا الْإِمَامُ جُنَّةٌ يُقَاتَلُ بِهِ  

See similar narrations below:

Collected by Abū Dāwūd, Suyūṭī
abudawud:2757 – Muḥammad b. al-Ṣabbāḥ al-Bazzāz > ʿAbd al-Raḥman b. Abū al-Zinād > Abū al-Zinād > al-Aʿraj > Abū Hurayrah

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

أبو داود:٢٧٥٧ – حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الصَّبَّاحِ الْبَزَّازُ قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنُ أَبِي الزِّنَادِ عَنْ أَبِي الزِّنَادِ عَنِ الأَعْرَجِ عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ قَالَ

قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ إِنَّمَا الإِمَامُ جُنَّةٌ يُقَاتَلُ بِهِ