Al-Matalib al-'Aliyah 3200 — Reports on storytellers and preachers

Al-Qasim bin Kathir narrates from one of his companions that Ka'b al-Ahbar (may Allah have mercy on him) used to give people sermons and narrate stories. Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman bin Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) (seeing him) said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "None gives sermons (or tells stories) except one who is himself a ruler (amir), or one whom the ruler has formally ordered to do so, or else a person who is arrogant and self-admiring." The narrator says: Then (people) said to Ka'b al-Ahbar (may Allah have mercy on him): "Thakilatka ummuk" (May your mother lose you, that is, alas!): this is Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman bin Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) saying such-and-such (on the authority of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)). So Ka'b al-Ahbar (may Allah have mercy on him) (out of fear of Allah) gave up preaching. Then, later, when Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) formally ordered him to preach, he considered it permissible for himself again because of that ruler's order (as the condition of being ordered was now fulfilled).
In the chain of this report one narrator is unnamed (mubham); however, its text is narrated in other reliable books of hadith, such as Sunan Abi Dawud (3665) and Musnad Ahmad, and Allamah al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him) declared it sahih (authentic).