The virtue of the Merciful, the Loving, Al-Bukhari, Sunan Abu Dawood, 14/11

Authored by Yasser Mohammed Fathi Al-Eid Introduction In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful All praise is due to Allah, we praise Him, seek His help, and ask His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of ourselves and from our bad deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, there is none to misguide him; and whomsoever He misguides, there is none to guide him. I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. {O you who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims} [Al-Imran: 102]. {O mankind! Fear your Lord who created you from one soul and created from it its mate, and dispersed from both many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Surely Allah is ever Watchful over you} [An-Nisa: 1]. {O you who believe! Fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice. He will then amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great victory} [Al-Ahzab: 70-71]. As for what follows: Al-Nawawi said in the introduction of his summary: "It is incumbent upon every person to acquire the manners of the Messenger of Allah—peace be upon him—and to follow his sayings, actions, and approvals in judgments, manners, and all aspects of Islam. And to rely upon what is authentic, and to avoid what is weak. Do not be deceived by those who oppose the authentic Sunnah, nor imitate those who rely on weak hadiths; for Allah—Glorified and Exalted—said: {So take what the Messenger gives you, and abstain from what he forbids you} [Al-Hashr: 7], and He said: {Indeed, you have in the Messenger of Allah an excellent example} [Al-Ahzab: 21], and: {Say, If you love Allah, then follow me, so Allah will love you and forgive you your sins} [Al-Imran: 31]. These verses and their meanings urge following him—peace be upon him—and prohibit innovation and invention. Allah commands us, when disputing, to return to Allah and His Messenger—meaning the Book and the Sunnah. All of this pertains to authentic Sunnah; as for what is not authentic, how can it be called Sunnah? How can we judge that the Messenger—peace be upon him—said or did something without valid reason? Do not be deceived by the many lax individuals in practice, or those who justify judgments with weak hadiths, even if they are scholars and imams in jurisprudence and other sciences, and have written extensively on this in their books. If asked about this, they would say that weak hadiths are not relied upon, except in stories and virtues of deeds that do not contradict the fundamentals of Sharia, such as the virtue of glorification, other remembrance, encouragement of noble morals, asceticism in worldly life, and other matters whose principles are known and established. Abu al-Muzaffer Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Hamid bin Ibrahim bin Al-Fadl Al-Bukhari said: When Abu al-Abbas Al-Walid bin Ibrahim bin Zaid Al-Hamadhani was dismissed from the judiciary of Rayy and Bukhara in the year 318 AH, to renew a friendship that had existed between him and Abu al-Fadl Muhammad bin Ubaid Allah Al-Balhami, he stayed in our neighborhood. He said: My teacher Abu Ibrahim Ishaq bin Ibrahim Al-Khattali took me to him and said: I ask you to have this boy narrate to him what you heard from your teachers—may Allah have mercy on them. He said: I have no hearing. He said: How can you be a jurist and not hear? He said: Because when I reached the age of men, my soul yearned to seek hadith, know the men, understand the news, and hear it. So I aimed to meet Muhammad bin Ismail Al-Bukhari in Bukhara, the author of "Al-Tarikh" and known for his knowledge of hadith. I told him my goal and asked for his support. He said to me: O son, do not enter into matters before knowing their limits and understanding their measures. I said: Define for me the limits of what I seek and the measures of what I asked you about. He said: Know that a person does not become a complete hadith scholar until he writes four with four, like four in four, at four with four, from four to four, and all these quadruples are only complete with four with four. If he completes them all, four becomes easy for him, and he is tested with four. If he endures this, Allah will honor him in this world with four, and reward him in the Hereafter with four. I asked him: Explain to me, may Allah have mercy on you, what you mentioned about these quadruples from a pure heart with a sufficient explanation and a clear clarification, seeking full reward. He said: Yes, the four that require your writing are: the news of the Messenger—peace be upon him—and his legislation, the companions and their measures, the Tabi‘un and their states, and all scholars and their histories, with the names of their men, nicknames, places, times. Praising with speeches, supplication with supplication, basmala with surahs, takbir with prayers—like the Musnad, the Mursal, the Maqtu‘, and the Maqlub—during childhood, in his awareness, in his youth, and in his old age; during his busy times, and when he is free; in poverty and wealth; among mountains, seas, towns, and deserts; on stones, shells, skins, and shoulders, until he can transfer them to papers; about those above him, those like him, and those below him; about his father’s book, certain that it is in his father’s handwriting and not others’. All for the sake of Allah, seeking His pleasure, working according to what agrees with the Book of Allah, and spreading it among those seeking and loving it, and composing to revive his remembrance after him. And these things are only achieved with four skills from the servant’s effort: knowing writing, language, morphology, and grammar; and four from Allah’s giving: health, ability, zeal, and memory. When these are complete, four become easy: family, children, wealth, and homeland. And he is tested with four: the glee of enemies, the blame of friends, the stabbing of the ignorant, and the envy of scholars. If he endures these trials, Allah will honor him in this world with four: pride in contentment, dignity of the self, the pleasure of knowledge, and the vitality of eternity. And He will reward him in the Hereafter with four: intercession for his brothers who wish it, shade under the Throne where there is no shade but His, drinking from the pond of His Prophet Muhammad—peace be upon him—and companionship with the prophets in the highest Paradise. I have summarized for you, my son, all that I heard from my teachers, scattered in this field. So now, either proceed with what I have aimed to teach you, or leave it. His words amazed me, and I was silent, pondering, and regretful. When he saw that from me, he said: If you cannot bear all these hardships, then learn the jurisprudence that you can acquire while sitting peacefully in your home, not needing travel or leaving your land, and it is also beneficial for hadith. The reward of the scholar is not less than that of the narrator in the Hereafter, nor is his honor less than that of the narrator. When I heard this, my resolve to seek hadith diminished, and I turned to learn whatever I could with Allah’s help and success. That is why I have nothing to teach this boy, O Abu Ibrahim. Abu Ibrahim said: This hadith, which no one else has except you, is better than a thousand hadith with others. End of his speech. He narrated this story with its chain: Al-Qadi Iyad in Al-Imla (29-34), Al-Mizzi in At-Tahdhib (24/461-464), and As-Suyuti in Tadrib ar-Rawi (2/156-158). This story has meanings and implications. What I intend by mentioning it is to highlight these imams—imams of hadith and tradition—and their care for the hadith of the Messenger of Allah—peace be upon him—and their dedication of their lives and their most precious possessions to uncover its chains and narrations, whether in the Musnad, Mursal, Maqtu‘, or Maqlub, so that the defect in the hadith becomes clear and its authentic from the weak is distinguished. They exerted great effort in collecting what they could from those who carried it in their time, to the extent that some traveled days and nights in search of a single hadith [see: Al-Jami‘ li-Akhlaq ar-Rawi (2/225)]. After collecting the hadiths and their chains, they worked hard to scrutinize them, distinguishing the authentic from the weak, the preserved from the strange, and the known from the rejected. They identified individuals, rare narrations, and oddities, even classifying them separately from the authentic and famous, based on their memorization, understanding, and knowledge [see: Ma‘rifat ‘Ulūm al-Hadith (151)]. They were aided by their knowledge of the companions, the Tabi‘un, their followers, and all scholars and narrators, their names, nicknames, titles, classes, lineages, tribes, countries, and times, to distinguish among narrators. They paid attention to the critique of the chain and the text of the hadith; they did not only examine the chain and its defectiveness but also scrutinized the texts and their flaws, even if narrated with a sound chain, like the sun. The truth that many engaged in seeking hadith overlook is that the judgments of these imams—regarding men—were based on the narrations of those narrators. If they trusted a narrator or weakened him, that judgment was based on their review and consideration of his narrations, comparing them with the narrations of trustworthy preservers. If they agreed, that indicated his memorization and accuracy; if they disagreed, they considered the extent of the discrepancy, which, if minor and understandable due to forgetfulness or oversight, they generally trusted him. If their doubts increased or his mistakes became frequent, they weakened him and documented his hadith for consideration. If he deliberately lied or fabricated, they tore his hadith apart, accused him, and warned against him. It is not a condition of trustworthiness that one does not make mistakes; even the original narrators’ hadiths are accepted unless there is a clear indication of error or mistake. Imam Muslim said in At-Tamyiz (170): "No transmitter of news or bearer of traces from the past nations to our time, even if he is among the most memorizing, cautious, and precise in what he preserves and transmits, is free from error and forgetfulness. How about those I described to you, whose method involves negligence and forgetfulness?" And Al-Tirmidhi said in Al-‘Ilal Al-Saghir (5/702 - Al-Jami‘): "People of knowledge are distinguished by their memorization, precision, and certainty in hearing; even the greatest imams are not immune from error and mistakes, despite their memorization." As for today, we see some who judge hadiths, texts, and chains based solely on the sayings of the men—altering the matter, since the imams judged men by their hadiths. Today, hadiths are judged by their men, regardless of what these imams said about the hadiths themselves. Many hadiths they critiqued, and they have opinions on their men. Some contemporary scholars of hadith dismiss the judgments of these imams, claiming that they rely on the men’s statements, even if that leads to misjudging the companions or accepting falsehoods that contradict authentic hadith and tradition, or turning non-religion into religion, or false innovations into Sunnah. How much did the predecessors leave for the successors! They claim. Sometimes, the imams declare a hadith defective due to a hidden flaw that we cannot perceive. When they agree, their consensus is a proof [Al-Marasil ibn Abi Hatim (703)]. No one should oppose their consensus, whatever they are. If they differ, then we weigh their opinions according to their rules and methods of critique, and we should not invent new sayings that precede theirs. Just as the companions—may Allah be pleased with them—who witnessed the revelation, were the most sincere of this nation, most knowledgeable, least pretentious, most guided, and best in morals, so too the critical imams who lived during the time of compilation and knew the conditions of narrators and narrations should not be contradicted or have new sayings introduced. We follow their statements if they agree, and prefer among their differing opinions, according to their principles and methods of critique. Ibn Hajar has a valuable statement on this, which I will quote in full for its benefit. He said in Al-Nukat (1/435-445): "Regarding Abu Dawood’s statement: ‘And what had a severe defect, I clarified,’ it indicates that what has a severe defect is not clarified; hence, all that Abu Dawood remained silent about is not necessarily from the technical definition of ‘good,’ but falls into categories: 1. What is in the two Sahihs or on the condition of authenticity. 2. What is inherently good in itself. 3. What is good if supported, and these two categories are very common in his book. 4. What is weak, but from narrators whom most scholars agree to leave alone. All these categories are valid for evidence, as Ibn Mandah reported: he issues weak hadiths if no other in the chapter, and considers them stronger than personal opinion. Likewise, Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr said: ‘Whatever Abu Dawood remains silent about is authentic in his view, especially if he did not mention anything else in the chapter.’ Similarly, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, as narrated by Ibn al-Mundhir, used to rely on Amr ibn Shu‘ayb from his father and grandfather if nothing else was in the chapter, and more explicitly, as narrated by Abu al-‘Aziz ibn Kaddash: he told his son, ‘If I wanted to restrict myself to what I consider authentic, I would not narrate from this Musnad except what comes one after another. But you, my son, know my method in hadith: I do not contradict what weakens unless there is something in the chapter that warrants it.’ And from the narration of Abdullah ibn Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, he said: I heard my father say: ‘You hardly see anyone examining opinion except that there is some flaw in his heart, and I prefer weak hadith over opinion,’ and he asked him about a man in a town who only had a hadith scholar, not knowing his correctness or weakness, and a scholar of opinion—who should he ask? He said: ‘Ask the hadith scholar, not the scholar of opinion.’ This is similar to what is narrated about Abu Dawood, and it is not surprising, for he was a student of Imam Ahmad. It is not strange that he would say his opinion. Al-Najm Al-Tufi also quoted Taqi al-Din ibn Taymiyyah, who said: ‘I examined Musnad Ahmad and found it consistent with Abu Dawood’s condition.’ Our sheikh also pointed out in the twenty-third chapter something of this, and from this, the weakness of those who rely on everything Abu Dawood remained silent about becomes apparent—they reject many weak narrations in their critique and remain silent about them, such as: Ibn Lahi‘ah, Salih the Mawla of the Tuwai, Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Aqil, Musa ibn Wardan, Salama ibn Al-Fadl, Dhalam ibn Saleh, and others. It is not appropriate for a critic to imitate them in silence about their hadiths, nor to follow their example in reliance on them. Rather, the way is to see if there is a supporting narration that supports it, or if it is strange and needs to be scrutinized, especially if it contradicts a more trustworthy narration; then it is downgraded to the level of rejection. Sometimes, weaker narrations are issued with chains that are disconnected or with ambiguous names, and judgments are not to be made based on these, because their silence sometimes is just an acknowledgment of what has already been discussed about that narrator in his own book, or due to forgetfulness, or because the weakness is obvious and agreed upon by the imams to be rejected, such as Abu al-Hawairith, Yahya ibn Al-‘Ala, and others. Sometimes, the chains are broken, or the narrators are unknown, or the narrators’ names are vague, so the judgment cannot be made for these hadiths based on Abu Dawood’s silence, because his silence sometimes is just an sufficiency for what he has already mentioned about that narrator in his book, or due to oversight, or because the weakness is clear and all imams agree to discard his narration, like Abu al-Huwayrith and Yahya ibn Al-‘Ala. Sometimes, the chains are interrupted or the names are unclear; many such hadiths are in the book, including the third hadith in his book: from the route of Abu Tiyah, who said: An old man narrated to me—when Ibn ‘Abbas came to Basra—about the hadith: “When one of you wants to urinate, let him turn away from his urine,” which is not discussed in all narrations, and involves this ambiguous narrator, among others, which prevents reliance on these hadiths due to their defects. The correct approach is not to rely solely on his silence, because he also relies on weak hadiths and prefers them over analogy if that is proven from him. The one who relies only on his silence does not see that as evidence, so how can he follow him? All of this, if we interpret his statement: “And what I did not say anything about, it is valid,” as meaning it is valid for proof—that is the apparent meaning. If we interpret it more broadly, as valid for proof, or for evidence, or for supporting, then it does not necessarily mean he accepts weak hadiths. It is necessary to consider those places where he is silent and they are weak: whether they contain individual narrations or not. If they contain individual narrations, then the first interpretation is confirmed; otherwise, the second. In any case, what he remained silent about is not suitable for reliance at all. Al-Nawawi, may Allah have mercy on him, pointed this out, saying: "In the Sunan of Abu Dawood, there are apparent weak hadiths which he did not clarify, even though they are unanimously known to be weak. So, his words must be interpreted." Then he said: "And the truth is that what we find in his Sunan that he did not clarify, and no one has explicitly declared its authenticity or good status, is good, even if those who rely on it declare it weak, or see in its chain what warrants weakness and there is no compensating evidence: they judge it weak, and do not pay attention to Abu Dawood’s silence." This is the correct understanding, but he contradicted it in some places in his explanation of Al-Minhaj and other writings, where he relied on many hadiths because of Abu Dawood’s silence; so do not be deceived by that, and Allah knows best. End of the words of Ibn Hajar, quoted exactly from Al-Nukat [see: Al-Bahr Al-Zakhir (3/1075-1108), Al-Khatm of Sunan Abu Dawood by Abdullah bin Salim Al-Basri (78)]. As for my method in extracting and judging hadiths, it is as follows: 1. I removed from the end of Abu Dawood’s chain, from his teacher to the one upon whom the chain depends in the books of the authors I mentioned, to facilitate and abbreviate mentioning those who narrated this hadith through this narrator. For example: (68) ... Simak, from ‘Ikrimah, from Ibn ‘Abbas, who said: Some of the Prophet’s wives—peace be upon him—bathed in a basin... The purpose was that all the authors I mentioned in the extraction only narrated it from Simak bin Harb, as he is the chain’s basis for them. They narrated it from multiple routes from Simak, narrated by: Shu‘bah, Sufyan Ath-Thawri, Abu Al-‘Awwam, Hamad bin Salama, Israel, Sharik, and others. I did this after confirming multiple routes to this narrator, so that they are generally established, and not just narrated by weak or abandoned narrators. Sometimes I mention the full chain without omission; either because I only found it through Abu Dawood, or for another reason, so I say: Abu Dawood said: narrated us Musedd, for example, and I give it in full. 2. As for the routes I mentioned during the extraction, they are either multiple routes to a particular narrator, so I start with the one upon whom the chain depends, as I mentioned earlier, or it is narrated with a single chain: either I mention it completely without omission, or I omit from the teacher of the compiler to a particular narrator who is the defect in the chain, or because it is narrated with a chain that is valid for reliance, to whom I mentioned. 3. I compile the various routes of the hadith from the available sources as much as possible, then classify these routes according to the agreement or disagreement of narrators on a particular narrator. 4. I gather the opinions of the imams on the hadith, whether from extraction sources, or from the books of men and ‘Ilal (defects), or from other sources. 5. I follow the opinions of the imams in deriving the defect, attempting to interpret their words to clarify their intended meaning if there is ambiguity. 6. If the imams agree on a hadith, it must be followed according to what I have previously stated. 7. If they differ, I try to reconcile their opinions; if that is not possible, I choose one of the opinions, relying on their methods of correction and critique based on apparent reasons of preference, and Allah knows best. I named it: "The Merciful, Loving, and Kind: Extraction of Sunan Abu Dawood." Before concluding, I emulate the words of Al-Shatibi, may Allah have mercy on him: "Trust in Him, and forgive His weaving... with leniency and kindness, even if it is fragile. Peace be upon one of the two good qualities: success... and the other is effort aiming at correctness, so forgive it. And if it is a fault, then correct it with patience... and let him fix it with generosity of forbearance. Say honestly, if not for harmony and his spirit... all mankind would be in discord and conflict. Keep your chest safe, and be prepared for the sanctity of Al-Quds—cleaned and washed." And I ask Allah to grant me success. He is the Hearing, the Responding to supplication. And our last supplication is praise be to Allah, Lord of all worlds. Prepared by: Abu Amr Yaser bin Mohammed Fathi Al-Eid Riyadh, 15 Sha‘ban 1428 AH fathy.yaser@gmail.com