. IÚ IÛJ ':?Ü?I Iljj ,H c.,tÝ (cont.)

The Chain of Abu Saalih on the authority of Abu Huraira Ibn Abu al-Dunya (in al-Samat), ibn Adi and al-Tabaraani (in al­ Mujam al-Ausat) have recorded this hadith from Suhail ibn Abu Saalih from his father from Abu Huraira. This chain also is completely unacceptable. It contains Abdul Rahmaan ibn Abdullah al-Umari. Ahmad said about him, "His hadith are not worth anything. I listened to his hadith and then we left him. His hadith are rejected hadith. He was a liar. So I tore his hadith to shreds." Al­ Nasaai, al-Daaraqutni, ibn Hajr, Abu Haatim and al-Dhahabi have similar low 1 Tadlees is where the narrator makes it appear or could give one the impression that he heard a hadith directly from another narrator whom he had met while, in fact, he did not hear it directly but heard it through an intermediate source. Hadith #12: "Part of the Perfection of a Person's Islam ... " opinions of him. Hence, again, this chain cannot be relied upon as supporting evidence. The Hadith of Zaid ibn Thaabit Both Saleem al-Hilaali and Shuaib al-Arnaoot refer to narrations of this hadith that have come from Companions other than Abu Huraira. These other narrations are to be explored next. The first of these narrations is the hadith of Zaid ibn Thaabit. It was recorded by al-Tabaraani in al-Mujam al-Sagheer as well as by others. However, the chain for this narration is very weak. The chain contains Muhammad ibn Katheer ibn Marwaan. He is a rejected narrator according to ibn Maeen, al-Azdi, ibn Adi, ibn Hajr and Abu Haatim. The Hadith of Abu Dharr al-Ghifaari Ibn al-Sunni (in Amal al-Yaum wa al-Lailah ), ibn Adi and al­ Samarqandi (in Tanbeeh al-Gha.fileen) have also recorded this hadith with a chain going back to Abu Dharr al-Ghifaari.1 This chain contains Yahya ibn Saeed al-Qurashi. His hadith are filled with mistakes and he cannot be accepted if he is the sole narrator of a report. Furthermore, the hadith contains ibn Juraij who committed tadlees and in this chain he narrated it with a vague term (an). Ibn Adi said that this is a rejected hadith. Al-Albaani said that it has a very weak chain. Hence, such a hadith cannot be used as supporting evidence for this hadith of Abu Huraira under discussion. Actually, ibn Abdul Barr and ibn Hibbaan have another chain for this hadith from Abu Dharr. However, this chain is also completely unacceptable. It contains Ibrahim ibn Hishaam ibn Yahya al-Ghasaani. He has been described as either a liar or a rejected narrator. Similarly, in al-Risaalah, al-Qushairi has another chain for this hadith from Abu Dharr. But it also has Yahya ibn Abu al-Aizaar, a rejected narrator who has been accused of lying. The Hadith of Ali ibn al-Husain Al-Tirmidhi and a number of others also record this hadith with the chain Malik ibn Anas from al-Zuhri from Ali ibn al-Husain from the Prophet (peace be upon him) in mursal form. All of the narrators are trustworthy but the name of the Companion who heard the hadith is missing. This is how Malik himself recorded the chain in his Muwatta. 1 Actually, the wording of this hadith is quite different from the one being discussed here. In this author's opinion, it could not be used as supporting evidence for the hadith of Abu Huraira even if it were authentic. Its wording is, "The one who reckons his speech as part of his deeds speaks very little except in matters of concern to him." Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi Al-Tirmidhi recorded the hadith in this fashion and then stated, This is how more than one of the companions of al-Zuhri narrated this: from al-Zuhri from Ali ibn al-Husain from the Prophet (peace be upon him), like the narration of Malik, in mursal form. In our opinion, this is a more authentic narration than the hadith of Abu Salamah from Abu Huraira. And Ali ibn al-Husain never met Ali ibn Abu Taalib.1 The following students of al-Zuhri also narrated this hadith in mursal fashion: Ziyaad ibn Saad, Yunus ibn Yazeed and Mamar ibn Raashid. It must be noted that some people have narrated it differently from Malik. Khaalid ibn Abdul Rahmaan al-Khurasaani narrated it from Malik in this way: from al-Zuhri from Ali ibn al-Husain from his father [al-Husain ibn Ali ibn Abu Taalib] from the Prophet (peace be upon him). However, Khaalid is noted for making mistakes and not having a good memory. But he may not have been alone in such a narration. Moosa ibn Dawood al-Dhibbi also narrated it in that fashion from "Malik and Abdullah ibn Umar al-Umari", as was recorded by Ahmad, al-Tabaraani and others. Musa is also known for making mistakes. This chain was probably from Abdullah who was a weak narrator. Yet others narrated it from Ali ibn Husain from his father from Ali ibn Abu Taalib. However, this chain is also defective and has been declared mistaken by al-Daaraqutni, who was a scholar of defective hadith.