. J '-Ɵ  (cont.)

m m .o -" m I- " "' ো Hadith #1 : All Actions are but by Intentions . . . c: .0 .0 "' ·- = ঌ"' "' -" E "' ::> -' "' ui c .Q "E E. c .., 3l "' !D ࣝ "' en c .Q ௻ ৌ .., "' :i::: II> :5 .E en c: "iii ..c (..) II> ..c I- (3) Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem ibn al-Haarith al-Qurashi: He was a well-known Imam and trustworthy narrator. He narrated from a number of Companions, such as Abu Saeed al-Khudri, Jaabir ibn Abdullah and others. Al95 Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi Auzaai and ibn Ishaaq narrated hadith from him. His hadith are recorded in each of the "six books" ofhadith. He died in the year 120 AH. (4) Yahya ibn Saeed ibn Qais al-Ansaari: He was a well-known, trustworthy Follower. He narrated hadith on the authority of Anas ibn Maalik, al-Saaib ibn Yazeed and Abu Umaama ibn Sahl. Among those who narrated hadith from him were Imam Malik and Shubah as well as numerous others, including Yahya al-Qattaan. He narrated approximately 300 hadith. He died in the year 143. It was from Yahya ibn Saeed that this hadith became widespread, due to the large number of students and fame that he had in general. In fact, according to al-Nawawi, over two hundred people, most of them leading scholars of hadith, narrated this hadith from Yahya. 1 Some claim even more than that. However, in Fath al-Baari, ibn Hajr states that he doubts that large number. He said he researched this hadith throughout the different collections of hadith and said that he could not find one hundred people who narrated it from Yahya ibn Saeed.2 In any case, there is no question that a very large number of people narrated this hadith from Yahya, perhaps close to one hundred. The reader may have already noticed a particular aspect of this chain. The three narrators, Alqama, Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem and Yahya, are all from the same generation. They were all Followers. Hence, this chain has one Follower narrating hadith from another Follower who had narrated it from yet a third Follower. Although not rare, this is not the most common form of transmission of hadith. Note that there are some other narrations of this hadith. Some of them have been narrated from Umar ibn al-Khattaab and others from different Companions. However, all of those narrations are defective. The scholars of hadith have pointed out their defects and have rejected them. Thus, the only authentic narrations of this hadith have come via the chain Yahya from Muhammad from Alqama from Umar ibn al-Khattaab.3 Is The Hadith Weak Because it is Ghareeb? It seems that some people did not accept this hadith because it is ghareeb. Indeed, most hadith of this category are not authentic. Imam Ahmad once said, "Guard yourself against ghareeb hadith since most of them come from liars."4 However, that does not mean that a priori every ghareeb hadith is to be rejected. This is not the approach of the scholars of hadith. As is the case here, there is no evidence or reason to reject this hadith. Simply because it has 1 Al-Ashqar, Muqaasid, p. 528. 2 Al-Ashqar, Muqaasid, p. 528. 3 For a discussion of the other narrations, see ibn Muhammad, pp. 45-47. 4 Quoted in ibn Taimiya, Majmoo, vol. 1 8, p. 247. · Hadith #1 : All Actions are but by Intentions . . . come through only one chain is not sufficient reason to reject a hadith. Indeed, as ibn Taimiya pointed out, there are other hadith of this nature that are also considered authentic by the scholars of hadith and which may be found in Sahih al-Bukhari.1 Is the Hadith Weak Because it is Shaadh or Munqata? There are two other objections leveled against this hadith. The first objection is that the hadith is shaadh.2 Shaadh is a type of weak hadith wherein it is shown that a narrator has narrated something that is contradicted by stronger authority. However, in this case, the objection is based on an incorrect understanding of the term shaadh. In particular, it is based on al-Hakim's incorrect definition of shaadh. Al-Haakim defined shaadh as any hadith that is solely related by a trustworthy narrator which has no supporting evidence for it. The correct and accepted opinion for shaadh is that which was given by Imam al-Shafi'ee, "The shaadh report is where a trustworthy narrator reports something in contradiction to what the people report. This does not include a person narrating what no others narrate."3 The second objection is that the chain is munqata (broken; missing a narrator). It is claimed by some that Yahya did not hear hadith from Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem and that Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem did not hear hadith from Alqama. However, there are many reports that show that these narrators did, in fact, meet and narrate hadith directly from each other.4 Hence, both of these objections are not sound and, thus, are rejected.