حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عُبَيْدٍ حَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ ثَوْرٍ عَنْ مَعْمَرٍ عَنْ الزُّهْرِيِّ عَنْ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنِ کَعْبِ بْنِ مَالِکٍ عَنْ أَبِيهِ أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّی اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ کَانَ إِذَا أَرَادَ غَزْوَةً وَرَّی غَيْرَهَا وَکَانَ يَقُولُ الْحَرْبُ
سنن ابودوٗد · Hadith 2637
Narrated Kab ibn Malik: When the Prophet ﷺ intended to go on an expedition, he always pretended to be going somewhere else, and he would say: War is deception. Abu Dawud said: Only Mamar has transmitted this tradition. By this he refers to his statement "War is deception" through this chain of narrators. He narrated it from the tradition of Amr bin Dinar from Jabir, and from the tradition of Mamar from Hammam bin Munabbih on the authority of Abu Hurairah.
Translated by Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan · Reviewed by Islamic University of Madinah · Published March 2020