حَدَّثَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ أَبِي عُمَرَ الْمَكِّيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ، ح، وَحَدَّثَنِي أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ خَلَّادٍ الْبَاهِلِيُّ، وَاللَّفْظُ لَهُ، قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ سُفْيَانَ بْنَ عُيَيْنَةَ، عَنْ مِسْعَرٍ، قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ سَعْدَ بْنَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، يَقُولُ: «لَا يُحَدِّثُ عَنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ إِلَّا الثِّقَاتُ».
Translation: Muḥammad b. Abī ʿUmar al-Makkī told me: Sufyān narrated to us. [The chain then changes:] Abū Bakr b. Khallād al-Bāhilī told me—the wording is his—“I heard Sufyān b. ʿUyaynah, from Misʿar, who said: I heard Saʿd b. Ibrāhīm say: ‘Only trustworthy transmitters should narrate from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.’”
This is Saʿd b. Ibrāhīm’s statement, not a Prophetic hadith. “The wording is his” identifies the second route as the source of these words. Thiqāt means transmitters whose reliability extends to the required accuracy of reporting.