The encouragement to marry and reports on it

Sayyiduna Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: A man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); his name was Akkaf bin Bishr al-Tamimi. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked him: "O Akkaf! Do you have a wife?" He said: "No!" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "Not even a slave girl?" He said: "No!" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "Are you well off, in good circumstances?" He said: "I am well off, in good circumstances." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "In that case you are one of the brothers of the devils. Had you been among the Christians, you would have been one of their monks. Our Sunnah is marriage. The worst of you are your unmarried ones, and the worst death among you comes to the unmarried. Do you want to follow the way of the devils? The devils have no weapon more effective against the righteous than women, except in the case of those who marry; they are pure and free from treachery (or indecency). Woe to you, O Akkaf! These (women) were the wives of Ayyub (peace be upon him), Dawud (peace be upon him), Yusuf (peace be upon him) and Kursuf (or: these men too were married)."
The narrator says: Sayyiduna Bishr bin Atiyyah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Messenger of Allah! Who is Kursuf?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "A man who worshipped Allah Almighty on one of the shores of the sea for three hundred years. He would fast by day and offer voluntary prayers by night. Then, because of his passion for a woman, he disbelieved in Allah Almighty and abandoned the worship of Allah Almighty he used to do. Then, because of some good deed of his, Allah Almighty granted him the ability to repent, and he repented." (The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:) "Woe to you, O Akkaf! Get married! Otherwise you will remain among those in between." He said: "O Messenger of Allah! Arrange my marriage!" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I marry you to Karimah bint Kulthum al-Himyari."
Imam Ahmad recorded this narration; its chain contains a narrator who is not named; the remaining narrators of this narration are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Atiyyah bin Busr al-Mazini (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: Sayyiduna Akkaf bin Wada'ah al-Hilali (may Allah be pleased with him) came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "O Akkaf! Do you have a wife?" He said: "No!" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "Not even a slave girl?" He said: "No!" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Are you healthy and well off?" He said: "Yes! All praise belongs to Allah Almighty." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Then you are one of the brothers of the devils. Either you would be among the monks of the Christians, and then you would be one of them; or, if you are one of us, then do as we do, and our Sunnah includes marriage. The worst of you are the unmarried, and those who die the worst death are the unmarried. Do they want to follow the devil? In my view the devils have no weapon more effective against the righteous than the relationship of men and women, except in the case of those who marry; they are pure and free from treachery (or indecency)." After this the narrator mentioned the whole hadith, similar to the narration of Sayyiduna Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him), except that it contains these words of his: "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'Woe to you, O Akkaf! Get married! For you are among those in between (or among those who waver).'" The narrator says: Sayyiduna Akkaf (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Messenger of Allah! I will not marry until you marry me to whomever you wish." The narrator says: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Then I marry you, with the name of Allah and with His blessing, to Karimah bint Kulthum al-Himyari."
Imam Abu Ya'la and Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration; its chain contains a narrator, Mu'awiyah bin Yahya al-Sadafi, who is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: Even if only one day of my life remained, I would present myself before Allah Almighty in the state of having a wife. I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "The worst of you are your unmarried ones."
Imam Abu Ya'la, and Imam al-Tabarani in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, recorded this narration; its chain contains a narrator, Khalid bin Isma'il al-Makhzumi, who is matruk (abandoned).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) says: If I came to know that only ten days of my life remained, I would like my wife not to be separated from me during them.
Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration; its chain contains a narrator, Abd al-Rahman bin Abdullah al-Mas'udi, who is thiqah (trustworthy) but suffered from ikhtilat (confusion in his later years); the remaining narrators of this narration are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed effeminate men who imitate women, masculine women who imitate men, men who remain unmarried and say: "We will not marry", women who remain single and say the like of that, and the one who rides alone in the wilderness (he cursed all of them). (The narrator says:) This weighed heavily on the Companions, and it showed on their faces. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (What is meant is) the one who spends the night alone (that is, travels alone in the wilderness at night).
Imam Ahmad recorded this narration; its chain contains a narrator, al-Tayyib bin Muhammad, whom Ibn Hibban declared thiqah (trustworthy) and al-Uqayli declared da'if (weak); the remaining narrators of this narration are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) relates this saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "There are four people whom Allah Almighty has cursed from above the Throne, and the angels have said Amin to it: the man who keeps himself away from women, does not marry and does not keep a slave girl, so that no child is born to him; the man who imitates women, though Allah Almighty created him male; the woman who imitates men, though Allah Almighty created her female; and the one who misleads the poor." Khalid bin al-Zibriqan says: This means the one who mocks them, such as saying to a poor man: "Come, so that I may give you something", and when the other comes to him, he says: "I have nothing with me"; or saying to a blind man: "Beware of the well! Beware of the animal!" when there is nothing in front of him; or when someone asks the way to a people's dwelling, he directs him to another way.
Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration by way of Hammad bin Abd al-Rahman al-Ukli, from Khalid bin al-Zibriqan, and both of these narrators are da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Abu Najih (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever is well off enough to marry and then does not marry has no connection with me."
Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat and al-Mu'jam al-Kabir; its chain is mursal and hasan (good), as Yahya bin Ma'in stated.

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to some young men of Quraysh and said: "O company of young men! Whoever among you has the means should marry (the narrator is unsure; perhaps the words are:) should get married; otherwise fasting is binding on him, for it will curb his desire."
Imam al-Bazzar, and Imam al-Tabarani in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, recorded this narration; the narrators of Imam al-Tabarani are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Ubayd bin Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that this saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) reached him; he said: "Whoever loves my fitrah (natural way) should follow my Sunnah, and marriage is part of my Sunnah."
Imam Abu Ya'la recorded this narration, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy), if Sayyiduna Ubayd bin Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) is a Companion; otherwise
this narration is mursal.

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O company of young men! Whoever among you has the means should get married, and whoever does not, fasting is binding on him." The narrator says: I think he also said: "This (that is, fasting) will curb his desire."
Imam al-Bazzar, and Imam al-Tabarani in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, recorded this narration, and the narrators of Imam al-Tabarani are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to command marriage and forbid remaining unmarried, and he was strict about this. He used to say: "Marry women who are loving and able to bear children, for on the Day of Resurrection I will take pride in your great numbers before the other prophets."
Imam Ahmad, and Imam al-Tabarani in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, recorded this narration by way of Hafs bin Umar from Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him); Ibn Abi Hatim has mentioned him, and a group have narrated from him; the remaining narrators of this narration are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Sa'id bin al-As (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: Sayyiduna Uthman bin Maz'un (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Messenger of Allah! Permit me to castrate myself!" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: "Indeed, in place of monasticism Allah Almighty has given us the easy and upright religion, and (the command to say) takbir when ascending every height. If you are one of us, then do what we do."
Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration; its chain contains a narrator, Ibrahim bin Zakariyya, who is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) relates this saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "Whoever marries has been given half of worship."
Imam Abu Ya'la recorded this narration; its chain contains a narrator, Abd al-Rahim bin Zayd al-Ammi, who is matruk (abandoned).

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) relates this saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "Whoever marries has completed half of faith, so let him fear Allah regarding the remaining half."
Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat with two chains; both of them contain a narrator, Yazid al-Raqashi, and a narrator, Jabir al-Ju'fi, and both of these narrators are da'if (weak), though both have also been declared trustworthy.

Abu Najih narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Poor, poor, poor is the man who has no wife, even if he has much wealth; and poor, poor, poor is the woman who has no husband, even if her wealth is great."
Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy), except that Abu Najih does not have the honour of being a Companion.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O young men of Quraysh! Do not commit zina, and guard your private parts. Listen! Whoever guards his private parts will attain Paradise."

In one narration the words are: "Listen! Whoever guards his private parts will enter Paradise."
Imam al-Bazzar, and Imam al-Tabarani in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir and al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, recorded this narration, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Sahl bin Hunayf (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Marry! For I will take pride in your great numbers before the other nations."
Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; its chain contains a narrator, Musa bin Ubaydah, who is da'if (weak).