. J "" (cont.)

1 Such reports may be found in ibn Hajr, Tahdheeb, vol. 4, pp. 268-269. 2 See al-Auni, vol. 2, pp. 555-561. 3 See ibn Hajr, Tahdheeb, vol. 3, pp. 101-103. 4 Cf., al-Dumaini, pp. 383-386. 5 See Maroof and al-Arnaoot, vol. 4, pp. 86-87. 1 193 Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi The Chains from ibn Abbaas: The chains of ibn Hibbaan, al­ Tabaraani and al-Daraqutni are excellent chains. 1 Al-Arnaoot said of ibn Hibbaan's chain, Its chain is sahih according to al-Bukhari's standard. Its narrators are trustworthy and from the narrators of the two Sahihs [of al-Bukhari and Muslim], with the exception of Bishr ibn Bikr who is only found in al-Bukhari.2 But this is, in essence, the same chain criticized by Abu Haatim, who claimed that al-Auzaai did not hear this hadith from Ataa. Al-Albaani has responded to this criticism by saying, I am not of the same opinion as Abu Haatim, may Allah have mercy on him. Certainly, it is not allowed to declare a hadith of a trustworthy narrator weak, especially if he was a noble Imam such as al-Auzaai, solely on the basis of a claim that he did not hear the hadith directly. Therefore, we are following the basic principle that a trustworthy narrator's narration is considered authentic until it is made clear that there is some break in the chain.3 This same hadith was also narrated from Bishr by Bahr on the authority of al-Auzaai, as recorded by al-Haakim. It is also an authentic chain as Bishr is a trustworthy narrator. Al-Haakim has another recording of this hadith but it is from al-Rabee on the authority of Ayyoob, instead of Bishr. This particular chain is not very strong due to the presence of Ayyoob. Ibn Hajr called Ayyoob, "Honest, mistake-prone." Maroof and al-Arnaoot say that it would be better simply to term him a weak narrator. He was considered weak by Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abu Dawood and many others.4 The other chain in the figure contains Saeed al-Alaaf and Muslim ibn Khaalid al-Zanji. Saeed seems to be an unknown narrator.5 As for Muslim ibn Khaalid, Ibn Hajr described him as, "honest, jurist, lots of errors". Maroof and al-Arnaoot state that he should be considered weak but his narrations can be taken into consideration. Actually, there are a lot of different opinions concerning him. Al-Bukhari abandoned him completely while others considered him acceptable. In this particular case, his narration is 1 The five from whom al-Daraqutni recorded this hadith are: Muhammad ibn Saaid, Abu Bakr al­ Naisaboori, Musa ibn Jafar ibn Qareen, Ahmad ibn Ibraaheem ibn Habeeb al-Zaraad and Abdullah ibn Ahmad ibn lshaaq al-Misri. 2 Amaoot's footnotes to al-Faarisi, vol. 1 6, p. 202. 3 Al-Albaani, /rwaa, vol. 1 , p l 24. 4 Maroof and Shuaib al-Amaoot, vol. 1, p. 160-1 . 5 See Hamdi al-Salafi, footnotes to al-Tabaraani, Mujam al-Kabeer, vol. 1, p. 1 33. 1 194 Hadith #39: "Allah has pardoned . . . " supported by others and, if it were not for Saeed being unknown, it would be considered acceptable. 1 (5) A fifth wording for this hadith is: ,,, ,,,. rM ,,,,. . ,,, ,,, J "" Ƀ ¼ I > Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi ,_ The Prophet (peace be upon him) I I I I Abu Dharr lbn Abbas al-Ghifaari I I Shahr ibn Ubaid ibn Haushab Umair I I Abu Bakr alAtaa Hudhali I I Ayyoob ibn al-Auzaai Suwaid I I lbraheem Bishr ibn ibn Bakr Muhammad I I lbn Majah Al-Rabee ibn Sulaimaan I I I Abu alal-Tahaawi Abbas I I I lshaaq ibn Abu Dharr ibn Abu alMuhamad Husain I I I Al-Baihaqi Figure 39.4 Chains of the Hadith, "Allah has pardoned, for my sake, my Nation . . . " The other one who narrated this hadith in this manner from al-Rabee was Abu Jafar al-Tahaawi. Al-Tahaawi was a great scholar and master of 1 196 Hadith #39: "Allah has pardoned . . . " hadith. However, in this particular narration, he has contradicted what at least five others have narrated from al-Rabee.1 (6) A sixth wording for this hadith is the following: ... J 0 l .... ,,..,., 0 ... i:ii ... ই ঈ t:c' উ . Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi Qataadah was a Follower and not a Companion. Furthermore, one of the problems with Qataadah is that he was "like one who gathers wood at night" not being able to recognize good wood from bad wood. In other words, he used to take hadith from most everyone without distinguishing the good narrators were from the poor ones. 1 Thus, his reports in which his source is unstated cannot be considered acceptable. In this particular case, it means that his slightly different narration from the others cannot be considered an acceptable narration. Conclusions about the Grading and Wording of the Hadith Based on the complete chain through ibn Abbaas, the mursal reports of al-Hasan and the mursal report from Ataa, it is concluded that this is a sahih hadith.