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ABU HURAYRA - THE PARAGON OF THE PROPHETIC SUNNA
GF Haddad – Shawwāl 1423
Abū Hurayra is 'Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Ṣakhr al-Dawsī al-Yamānī (raḍiy-Allahu-ʿanhu) (d. 57), formerly named 'Abd al-Shams then renamed 'Abd al-Raḥmān by the Prophet ﷺ and nicknamed by him Abū Hirr.[1] Accordingly, he disliked being called with the feminine form "Hurayra”[2] which has nevertheless acquired overwhelming fame in the Community.
Abū Hurayra is the most abundant Companion-narrator of ḥadīth from the Prophet ﷺ, having accompanied him day and night at home and abroad, in public and in private, on pilgrimage and military expeditions. The number of those who narrated from him reached 800 including both Companions and Successors.
At the burial of Abū Hurayra Ibn 'Umar said: "He preserved the ḥadīth of the Prophet ﷺ for the Muslims” and "O Abū Hurayra! You were the most assiduous among us in accompanying the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ, and the most knowledgeable of us all in his ḥadīth.”[3] Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī said: "Abū Hurayra heard what we did not hear, and I certainly prefer to narrate from him than to quote the Prophet ﷺ [on my own].” Hence, al-Shāfiʿī named Abū Hurayra "The foremost in memorization among those who narrated ḥadīth in his time” meaning both the Companions and Successors.
Abū Hurayra (raḍiy-Allahu-ʿanhu) loved the Prophet ﷺ greatly and, like Abū Dharr al-Ghifari (raḍiy-Allahu-ʿanhu) and ʿAlī ibn Abū Ṭālib (kaw), begins or concludes several of his narrations with the words:
"My beloved said to me” (qāla lī khalīlī)
"My beloved counseled me” (awṣīnī khalīlī)
"My beloved said the truth” (ṣadaqa khalīlī)
"I heard my beloved say” (samiʿtu khalīlī yaqūlu).
One day the Prophet ﷺ gestured as if to strike him with an udder (dirra) but put it down instead, after which Abū Hurayra said: "That he ﷺ had struck me with it would have been dearer to me than if I possessed a vast range of the best livestock!”
Abū Hurayra gave the following account of his mother's conversion:
I came to the Prophet ﷺ weeping one day and said: "Messenger of Allāh, I have been inviting my mother [Umayma bint Ṣubayḥ or Ṣufayḥ ibn al-Ḥārith] to Islām and she always refuses. Today I asked her again and she said something about you I hated to hear. Ask Allāh to guide Abū Hurayra's mother!” Whereupon the Prophet ﷺ said: "O Allāh! Guide Abū Hurayra's mother.” Then I returned home cheered up by the Prophet's ﷺ supplication. When I arrived at the door of the house I found it closed. Hearing my footsteps, my mother said: "Abū Hurayra, do not come in yet.” I could hear the sound of water. She washed herself and wore her robe (dirʿ) and headcover (khimār) then she opened the door and said: "Abū Hurayra! I bear witness that there is no God but Allāh and that Muḥammad is the servant and messenger of Allāh!” I returned at once to the Prophet ﷺ, weeping for joy, and said to him: "Messenger of Allāh, good news! Allāh has answered your request and guided my mother!” He glorified and praised Allāh, thanking Him and saying good things. I said: "Messenger of Allāh! Ask Allāh that He make me and my mother beloved to his believing servants and that He make them beloved to us.” The Prophet ﷺ said: "O Allāh! Make Your little servant here – meaning Abū Hurayra – and his mother beloved to Your believing servants, and make the believers beloved to the two of them.” Not one believer is brought into existence who hears about me without seeing me except he loves me.[4] 'Aqil's freedman Abū Murra related that Abū Hurayra lived in a house neighboring his mother's house and that he would stand at her door and say: "Peace be upon you, dear mother! and the mercy and blessings of Allāh” whereupon she would answer: "and upon you, my dear son!” Then Abū Hurayra would say: "May Allāh have mercy on you just as you raised me when I was little!” and his mother would reply: "May Allāh have mercy on you just as you treated me well in maturity!”[5]
He is the beneficiary of the Prophet's ﷺ supplication on his behalf according to the following ḥadīths:
(a) Zayd ibn Thābit said: "While I, Abū Hurayra, and a third man were in the mosque one day, supplicating Allāh Most High and remembering our Lord, the Prophet ﷺ came out to us and sat with us. When he sat we became silent. He said: 'Continue what you were doing.' So I supplicated, then my friend, before Abū Hurayra, while the Prophet ﷺ said āmīn to our supplication. Then Abū Hurayra supplicated saying: 'O Allāh! I ask you all that my two friends asked of you and I ask you for knowledge that shall not be forgotten.' The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said āmīn. We said: 'Messenger of Allāh! We, too, ask for knowledge that shall not be forgotten.' He said: 'The boy from Daws asked for it before you!'”[6]
[See also The Sunna Status Of Collective Supplication]
(b) "I said: 'Messenger of Allāh, truly I hear from you many ḥadīths which I forget.' The Prophet ﷺ said: 'Spread your cloak.' I spread my cloak and the Prophet ﷺ made a scooping gesture with his hands, then said: 'Wear it.' I wore it, and I never forgot a thing thereafter.”[7]
This miracle of the Prophet ﷺ is all the more remarkable in view of eight factors peculiar to Abū Hurayra's situation:
• He is extremely meticulous and reliable in his narrations, which are all faultless in their least detail as stated by al-Dhahabī, although Abū Hurayra said he used to be forgetful before the Prophet's ﷺ du'ā'. The Tābiʿī 'Umara ibn 'Amr also witnessed that Abū Hurayra had the best memory of the Companions that surrounded him, as cited further below. Further, Abū Hurayra was careful to differentiate between the Prophet's ﷺ words and his own, pointing out the latter with the words hādhā min kāsī – "This is from my own bag.”[8]
• He was illiterate yet narrated more ḥadīths from the Prophet ﷺ than 'Abd Allāh ibn 'Amr, who wrote down all that he heard and was a polyglot. Abū Hurayra said: "None of the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ can narrate more from him than I, except that in the case of 'Abd Allāh ibn 'Amr [ibn al-'Ās], he used to write whereas I cannot write.”[9] What is narrated concerning Abū Hurayra's ownership of books or notebooks is not confirmed by the scholars of ḥadīth. Even if it were, it does not preclude the possibility that these were copied on his behalf and not by his own hand since he himself declared that he did not write.
• He accompanied the Prophet ﷺ for only three years and yet narrated several hundredfold more ḥadīths from him than Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (raḍiy-Allahu-ʿanhu), who accompanied him for twenty-three.[10]
• He was content to live from hand to mouth for the duration of his time with the Prophet ﷺ, not leaving his presence at all, as opposed to other Companions who worked for gain and were not as assiduous in accompanying him, as stated by Ibn 'Umar. Abū Hurayra said:
Lo! The people are saying: "Abū Hurayra narrates too much.” If it were not for two verses in the book of Allāh I would not narrate a single ḥadīth. (Those who hide the proofs and the guidance which We revealed, after We had made it clear in the Scripture: such are accursed of Allāh and accursed of those who have the power to curse. Except such of them as repent an amend and make manifest the truth. Toward these I relent. I am the Relenting, the Merciful.) (2:159-160) Truly, our brethren among the Muhājirīn were busy with business transactions; and truly, our brethren among the Anṣār were busy working their lands; and truly, Abū Hurayra all this time kept company with the Prophet ﷺ provided he had quelled his hunger, attending what they did not attend and memorizing what they did not memorize.[11]
You could see me at times faint from hunger between the house of ʿĀ'isha (raḍiy-Allahu-ʿanha) and the Pulpit [in the Prophet's ﷺ mosque]. I would wake up to see someone recite something over me and I would say to him: "I am not [insane] as you may think—only hungry!”[12]
I was raised an orphan and emigrated to Madīna moneyless. I was one of the needy people of the Ṣuffa.[13] (A reference to the group of seventy destitute Companions known as "The People of the Shelter,” whom Abū Hurayra represented before the Prophet ﷺ. [14]
I was just over thirty when I first came to the Prophet ﷺ.
• He was persistent and assiduous in pursuit of the ḥadīth from the Mouth of Felicity. This is shown by the following narrations: - Ubayy ibn Ka'b: "Abū Hurayra was bold with the Prophet ﷺ. He would ask him about things we dared not ask about.”[15]
• Abū Hurayra: "I asked the Prophet ﷺ: 'Messenger of Allāh! Who is the most felicitous person to obtain your intercession on the Day of Resurrection?' He said: 'O Abū Hurayra! I knew that surely no one would precede you in asking such a question, due to the persistency I have observed in you in obtaining ḥadīth. The most felicitous person to obtain my intercession on the Day of Resurrection is he who said lā ilāha illAllāh sincerely from his heart, or – the narrator hesitated – his soul (min nafsih).'”[16]
• "I divided my nights into three parts: in one third I would pray, in another sleep, and in the last third I would recollect the ḥadīth of the Prophet ﷺ.”
• He lived until the age of 78. The Prophet ﷺ took age-span into consideration and was aware of it since he said to Ruwayfi' ibn Thābit al-Anṣārī: "Ruwayfi'! It may be that you will live a long life after me. Therefore, inform the people…”[17] Ruwayfi' lived on for more than forty years after the Prophet ﷺ spoke these words.
• Almost all of this time Abū Hurayra was prominent in Madīna – the epicenter of Islām – where he engaged in full-time teaching. All this resulted in a massive transmission of ḥadīth to the Successors, as opposed to other Companions who either died early or were too busy governing, campaigning, or working, or moved to remote areas and embraced worship such as 'Abd Allāh ibn 'Amr:
- On the day of Jumu'a Abū Hurayra used to come forth, grasp the two pommels of the Prophet's ﷺ pulpit standing, and say: "Abū al-Qāsim the Truthful, the Confirmed, related to us” and he would not cease narrating until he heard the door of the imām open.[18]
- 'Umara ibn 'Amr ibn Ḥazm said: "I sat in a gathering of elders among the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ, about ten to twenty of them including Abū Hurayra. The latter began to relate to them ḥadīths of the Prophet ﷺ which some of them did not recognize at first, then they would remember them. He did this repeatedly. I realized that day that he was the best of them at preserving narrations from the Prophet ﷺ.”[19]
- Makḥūl narrated: "People decided to meet one night in one of Muʿāwiya's tents. They gathered, and Abū Hurayra stood among them narrating reports from the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ until dawn.”[20]
- While on the road to Makka for pilgrimage the wind blew so hard that 'Umar asked: "Can anyone narrate to us something [from the Prophet ﷺ] about the wind?” None of those present could answer. When news of this reached Abū Hurayra, he rode up to 'Umar and said: "Commander of the Believers! I was told that you asked about the wind, and I myself heard the Prophet ﷺ say: 'The wind is a spirit from Allāh (swt). It brings mercy and it brings torment. Therefore, when you experience it, do not curse it but ask Allāh for its goodness and seek refuge in Him from its harm.'”[21]
• Notwithstanding the above, he left a large amount of narrations untold out of fear for his life if he were to reveal all that the Prophet ﷺ had told him about forthcoming events, particularly in connection with the Banū Umayya. Thus he decried the governor of Madīna Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam, warned of a terrible disaster about to befall the Arabs, and prayed for death before the year 60, the year Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya came to power:[22]
- Abū Hurayra said: "Woe to the Arabs for a disaster that is fast approaching! The rule of young boys: if you obey them they shall enter you into the Fire, and if you disobey them they shall strike your necks with the sword.”[23] - Another version also from him states: "Woe to the Arabs for a disaster that is fast approaching at the turn of the year 60! The public trust will become spoils of war, almsgiving will be considered a fine, people will only bear witness for their friends, and lusts will govern.”[24]
- 'Umayr ibn Hāni' al-'Anasī narrated that Abū Hurayra used to walk in the marketplaces and say: "Hold on to the two temples of Muʿāwiya! O Allāh, do not let me reach the year 60!”[25]
- "Seek refuge in Allāh from the turn of the year 60 and from the rule of young boys” (imārat al-ṣibyān). and he said: "The world will not pass before it first belongs to a mean fool son of a mean fool (luka' ibn luka').”[26] Some versions have "and the rule of fools” (imārat al-sufahā').[27]
- The above reports show Abū Hurayra's familiarity with the report of Abū Saʿīd: "I heard the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ say: 'There will be, after sixty years, [a later generation who have ruined worship and have followed lusts. But they will meet deception] (19:59). Then there will be a later generation who recite Qur'ān but it will not reach beyond their throats. Three types will be reciting the Qur'ān [at that time]: the Believer, the hypocrite, and the open rebel.”[28] Confirming the above is the famous saying of ʿAlī at Ṣiffīn: "People! Do not loathe Muʿāwiya's leadership. If you were to lose him, you would see heads parting with their necks like colocynths (kal-ḥanẓal)!”[29] Al-Bayhaqī said: "ʿAlī and Abū Hurayra spoke such things only because they heard them from the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ.”[30]
- Ibn 'Ajlān narrated that Abū Hurayra used to say: "Verily, I am reporting narrations today which, if I had said a word of them in the time of 'Umar, my head would have rolled.”[31]
- "If I told you everything I knew, people would charge me with violating the law and they would say: Abū Hurayra is mad!” Another narration states: "You would have pelted me with dung.”[32]
- 'Abd Allāh ibn 'Amr ibn al-ʿĀṣ stood weeping before the Ka'ba which had been destroyed and burnt by the army of Ḥusayn ibn Numayr al-Sakīnī[33] in the year 63 and said: "People! By Allāh, if Abū Hurayra had informed you that you would be fighting the grandson of your Prophet ﷺ and burn the House of your Lord, you would have said there is no worse liar than Abū Hurayra! and now you know, therefore, expect Divine revenge.”[34]
- Abū Hurayra said: "I preserved from the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ two large vessels of knowledge. I disseminated the first one among the people. Were I to disseminate the second, my gullet would be cut.”[35]
Another version states: "I preserved three vessels, of which I disseminated two.” Ibn Ḥajar said the gist of this is that Abū Hurayra disseminated more than what he kept secret. Thus the first vessel in the ḥadīth of al-Bukhārī is larger than the second. - Abū Hurayra also said, "I heard the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ say: 'The destruction of my Community will take place at the hands of boys (ghilma) from the Quraysh' I can name them if you wish They are the Banū Fulān and the Banū Fulān.”[36]
Another sound version has "boylings” (ughaylima). - Abū Hurayra also narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said: "Those who will destroy the people are this particular clan (hādhā al-ḥayyu) of the Quraysh” They said, "What do you order us to do, Messenger of Allāh?” He replied: "If only the people stayed away from them (law anna al-nāsa i'tazalāhum)!”[37]
This is precisely what Abū Dharr did. Ibn 'Umar similarly said: "I heard the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ say: 'This particular clan (ḥayy) of the Quraysh shall remain safe until they turn away from their Religion into apostates.' A man stood up saying: 'Messenger of Allāh! Will I be in Paradise or in Hellfire?' The Prophet ﷺ answered, 'In Paradise.' Another stood asking the same, whereupon the Prophet ﷺ answered, 'In Hellfire.' Then [he said], 'Say nothing to me as long as I say nothing to you. Were it not for fear that you would stop burying one another (lawlā an lā tadāfanū) I could certainly tell you about a great number of those who will be in the Fire and you would know who they are. If I am ordered to do it I shall certainly do it!'”[38]
- Ḥumayd ibn Mālik ibn Khuthaym was sitting with Abū Hurayra in his land of al-'Aqīq when a group of the people of Madīna came to him. They dismounted and came to him. Ḥumayd said: "Abū Hurayra said [to me]: 'Go to my mother and say to her, Your son sends his salām and asks you to send us a little food.' I went and she gave me three loaves of bread and some olive oil and salt. I carried it to them. When I put it in front of them Abū Hurayra said: 'Allāhu akbar. Praise be to Allāh Who has sated us with bread after the time when our only food was the two black ones: water and dates!' The people did not leave anything except they ate it. When they went away, he said: 'Son of my brother, be kind to your sheep, wipe their mucus from them, improve their pastures, and pray in their vicinity, for they are from the animals of Paradise. By the One in Whose hand is my soul, there will soon come a time upon people when the flock of sheep will be dearer to its owner than the sons of Marwān!'”[39]
- Much of the Sunna pivots on Abū Hurayra who symbolizes, more than any other Companion, the first transmission link between us and the Prophet ﷺ. Consequently, the enemies of the Sunna[40] attack him first. Following are some examples of these attacks: The fabrication that Abū Hurayra (raḍiy-Allahu-ʿanhu) returned from Baḥrayn a millionaire, and that 'Umar had him lashed for grand theft and larceny until he passed out.[41]
This is refuted by the sound narrations showing that Abū Hurayra's wealth was licit and that neither 'Umar nor anyone else condemned him for it nor lashed him in the least. The misrepresentation of Abū Hurayra as the mouthpiece of the Umawī regime against ʿAlī (kaw) and the Family of the Prophet ﷺ on the basis of some forged narrations. This is refuted by Abū Hurayra's criticism of both Muʿāwiya and Marwān on certain occasions as well as his repeated banishment from the governorship of Madīna and the appointment of Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam in his place. Abū Hurayra's narrations from the Prophet ﷺ to the immense merits of ʿAlī and the Prophet's ﷺ Family in the Nine Books are numerous. The misrepresentation of Abū Hurayra as a fabricator of Prophetic narrations, again on the basis of obvious forgeries – sans chains of transmission – devised by Shīʿā and/or Mu'tazilā sources.[42]
This is the weakest charge, refuted by the consensus of the Salaf of Ahl al-Sunna and the unanimity of early and late ḥadīth Masters.[43]
The Tābiʿī Ḥumayd ibn 'Abd al-Raḥmān said: "Abū Hurayra accompanied the Prophet ﷺ for four years.”[44]
However, Abū Hurayra himself stated that he accompanied the Prophet ﷺ for three years on the authority of the Tābiʿī Qays ibn Abū Ḥāzim: "I accompanied the Prophet ﷺ for three years, and no time in my life was ever wiser and dearer to me than the time in which I collected what the Prophet ﷺ said.”[45]
Yet al-Dhahabī considered Ḥumayd's narration more correct than Qays's because Abū Hurayra also said: "I came to Madīna at the time the Prophet ﷺ was in Khaybar.”[46]
That is, in Muḥarram of the year 7, at which time Abū Hurayra arrived in Madīna and prayed the dawn prayer behind Siba' ibn 'Arfata. Al-Dhahabī said: "From Khaybar to the Prophet's ﷺ passing there are four years and a few nights.” What reconciles all three statements is the fact – apparently overlooked by al-Dhahabī – that after he first arrived from Yemen to stay with the Prophet ﷺ, Abū Hurayra was sent by him to be a mu'adhdhin on a one-year mission to Bahrayn with al-ʿAlī' ibn al-Ḥaḍramī.[47]
In 'Umar's caliphate Abū Hurayra was appointed governor of Baḥrayn, and in Muʿāwiya and Marwān's caliphates he was made governor of Madīna.
Beyond mere narration, Abū Hurayra was also known for his fiqh among the Companions and gave fatwā in Madīna for over twenty years. Zyad ibn Mina' said: "Ibn ʿAbbās, Ibn 'Umar, Abū Saʿīd [al-Khudrī], Abū Hurayra, Jābir, and their likes used to give fatwā in Madīna, from the time of 'Uthmān's death until their own.” More precisely, Abū Hurayra was in the median layer of those who gave fatwā among the Companions:
Those who gave a formal response on a single question or more are no more than 153 men and women Companions…. Those who gave an abundant number of responses are only seven: 'Umar, his son 'Abd Allāh, ʿAlī, Ibn ʿAbbās, Ibn Masʿud, the Mother of the Believers ʿĀ'isha, and Zayd ibn Thābit. As for those who gave a moderate amount of responses between the two layers, they are only thirteen, out of whose fatwas a small volume could be gathered for each.[48]
… They are Umm Salama the Mother of the Believers, Anas ibn Mālik, Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, Abū Hurayra, 'Uthmān ibn 'Affān, 'Abd Allāh ibn 'Amr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, 'Abd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr, Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī, Sa'd ibn Abū Waqqāṣ, Salmān al-Fārisī, Jābir ibn 'Abd Allāh, Muʿādh ibn Jabal, and Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq.[49]
Hurayra used to fast in the daytime and pray in the dead of night with his wife and daughter. He was content with little, eating five dates for his pre-fast meal and breaking his fast with five, sometimes tying a stone to his stomach to contain his hunger. He had several prayer-spots in his house and within his door-step, and prayed in each of them once every time he entered or exited.
He was slightly swarthy, wide-shouldered, tooth-gapped, wore two braids (dhā ḍafīratayn), and dyed his white hair with henna. His beard was red. Khabbāb ibn 'Urwa said that he wore a black turban. He was of gentle and humble disposition, played with children, rode a donkey, and carried wood on his back from the marketplace even after he became governor.
He possessed a thread with two thousand knots and would not sleep until he had used it all for dhikr.[50] He said: "Verily, I make glorification (tasbīḥ) of Allāh Almighty every day according to my ransom (qadar diyyatī), twelve thousand times.”[51]
Imām al-Suyūt.ī recounted in one of his fatwas entitled al-Minḥa fīl-Sibḥa ("The Profit In Dhikr-Beads”) the story of 'Ikrima, who asked his teacher 'Umar al-Mālikī about dhikr-beads. The latter replied that he had also asked his teacher al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī about it and was told: "Something we have used at the beginning of the road we are not desirous to leave at the end. I love to remember Allāh with my heart, my hand, and my tongue.” Al-Suyūt.ī comments: "and how should it be otherwise, when the dhikr-beads remind one of Allāh Most High, and a person seldom sees dhikr-beads except he remembers Allāh, which is among the greatest of its benefits?”[52]
On his death-bed Abū Hurayra wept. Asked why, he replied: "Lack of provision and the hardship of the journey ahead.”[53]
In his last will he stipulated: "Do not set up a tent over me nor follow my bier with incense (mijmara) but carry me briskly.”[54]
Marwān visited him as he lay sick and said: "May Allāh cure you.” Abū Hurayra said: "O Allāh! I love to meet you, so love to meet me!” When Marwān left him he did not reach the middle of the market-place before Abū Hurayra had expired.[55]
When he died, the sons of 'Uthmān ibn 'Affān carried his bier while Ibn 'Umar walked in front of them, invoking Divine mercy on him. His high rank is indicated by the ḥadīth of the Prophet ﷺ: "None hears a word, or two, or three, or four, or five words pertaining to what Allāh has commanded, and then learns them and teaches them to others, except he certainly enters Paradise.”[56]
Sources: Ibn Ḥajar, Fatḥ al-Bārī, Kitāb al-'Ilm, Bab Ḥifẓ al-'Ilm and al-Iṣāba 3:29; Ḥilya 1:461-471 #85; Siyar 4:175-206 #222; Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥuffāẓ 1:35; Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāya wal-Nihāya 8:111-122=Maʿrif ed. 8:103-115; al-Khat.īb, al-Sunna Qabl al-Tadwin p. 411-468.
[1] Narrated in six places by al-Bukhari from Abu Hurayra. Abu Hirr means "Father of the Cat” – because of a cat he found and carried in his sleeve.
[2] Narrated from al-Walid ibn Rabah by al-Baghawi with a fair chain as stated by Ibn Ḥajar in al-Iṣaba (7:202=1992 ed. 7:434), and Ibn 'Asakir in his Tarikh (29:181) from Muḥammad ibn Qays. Cf. al-Dhahabi in the Siyar (Arna'uṭ ed. 2:587=4:181).
[3] Narrated by al-Tirmidhi who said it is ḥasan.
[4] Narrated by Muslim and Aḥmad as well as Ibn Ḥajar in al-Iṣaba (7:435, 7:512).
[5] Narrated by al-Bukhari in al-Adab al-Mufrad.
[6] Narrated by al-Ṭabarani in al-Awsaṭ with a chain of trustworthy narrators except for Qays al-Madani who is of unknown reliability as indicated by al-Haythami; al-Nasa'i in his Sunan with the same chain, which Ibn Ḥajar declared "good” (jayyid) in al-Iṣaba (7:438 #10674) and al-Ḥakim (3:508=1990 ed. 3:582) with a chain he declared sound (ṣaḥiḥ) while al-Dhahabi cited the weakness of one of its narrators – Ḥammad ibn Shu'ayb – but in the Siyar (4:197=al-Arna'uṭ ed. 2:616) he cites another chain [cf. al-Mizzi in Tahdhib al-Kamal (24:94)] with al-Faḍl ibn al-'Ala' in lieu of Ḥammad, adding: "Ibn al-'Ala' is 'truthful' (ṣaduq),” which makes this a fair (ḥasan) ḥadith in sha' Allaḥ This is confirmed by the fact that Ibn Ḥajar cites it in Fatḥ al-Bari (1959 ed. 1:215). For other proofs for the collective amin of the congregation to the supplication of a single person see our monograph "Collective Supplication.”
[7] Narrated by al-Bukhari, and Muslim narrates something similar.
[8] Narrated from Dhakwan and 'Abd al-Raḥman ibn Abi Nu'm by Aḥmad with two sound chains.
[9] Narrated by al-Bukhari, al-Tirmidhi, Aḥmad, and Darimi.
[10] With repetitions, eight thousand seven hundred and forty ḥadiths are narrated from Abu Hurayra in the Nine Books,* but only two hundred and twenty-nine from Abu Bakr. * al-Bukhari, Muslim, Malik, al-Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, al-Nasa'i, Aḥmad, al-Darimi.
[11] Narrated by al-Bukhari while Muslim and Aḥmad narrate something similar. Ibn Ḥajar said: "The narration indicates that abstaining from the world is more conducive to the memorization of knowledge.” Fatḥ al-Bari (1:192).
[12] Narrated by al-Bukhari and al-Tirmidhi.
[13] Narrated by al-Bukhari as part of a second version of the ḥadith "People are saying. . .”
[14] The narrations and names of Ahl al-Suffa are compiled by Abu Nu'aym in his Ḥilya (1:414-425=1:398-400, 2:390-392) and their names are also listed by al-Sakhawi in his Fatawa Ḥadithiyya (p. 300-301).
[15] Narrated by 'Abd Allah ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal in Zawa'id al-Musnad (5:139) with a sound chain as indicated by al-Haythami in Majma' al-Zawa'id. Also narrated by Ibn Ḥibban (16: #7155) and al-Ḥakim in his Mustadrak (3:510), both with a weak chain; also Abu Nu'aym in Dala'il al-Nubuwwa, Ibn 'Asakir in Tarikh Dimashq (29:194), and al-Dhahabi in the Siyar (4:204).
[16] Narrated by al-Bukhari and Aḥmad. The phrase "the most felicitous one to obtain your intercession” signifies not a comparison of superiority between felicitous and infelicitous beneficiaries of intercession, but a hyperbole in the description of, and yearning for intercession itself, i.e.: "Who will be that most felicitous one who will obtain your intercession?”
[17] Narrated by al-Nasa'i, Abu Dawud, and Aḥmad.
[18] Narrated with a sound chain by al-Ḥakim, confirmed by al-Dhahabi who also cites it in the Siyar.
[19] Narrated by al-Bukhari in his Tarikh (#574) and Ibn 'Asakir in his Mukhtaṣar Tarikh Dimashq (29:190). Both Ibn Ḥajar and al-Dhahabi cite it.
[20] Narrated by Ibn 'Asakir in Mukhtaṣar Tarikh Dimashq (29:191) and cited by al-Dhahabi.
[21] Narrated by Aḥmad in his Musnad with two sound chains. The narration from the Prophet e is also narrated from Abu Hurayra by Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah, while Muslim and al-Tirmidhi (ḥasan) narrate from 'A'isha the wording of the Prophet's e invocation in case of strong wind.
[22] Under the rule of Yazid ibn Mu'awiya three scandals took place: al-Ḥusayn ibn 'Ali was killed; Madina was ransacked for three days during which the Companions were massacred, after which no survivor of the battle of Badr was left on earth; and a thousand unmarried women gave birth to fatherless children; finally, the Ka'ba was destroyed and burnt, at which time Yazid died.
[23] Narrated by Ibn Abi Shayba.
[24] arrated from Abu Hurayra by Ma'mar ibn Rashid in his Jami' (Muṣannaf 11:373), al-Ḥakim (1990 ed. 4:530), and Nu'aym ibn Ḥammad in al-Fitan (2:703 #1981). Al-Ṭabarani narrates something similar in al-Awsaṭ (2:106) with a weak chain cf. al-Haythami (4:199).
[25] Narrated from 'Umayr ibn Hani' al-'Anasi by Ibn 'Asakir in Mukhtaṣar Tarikh Dimashq (29:206) and by Ibn Sa'd (4:340-341) as well as al-Bayhaqi in the Dala'il, al-Dhahabi in the Siyar, Ibn Ḥajar in al-Iṣaba (7:443), and Ibn Kathir in al-Bidaya (6:228-229). "Hold on to the two temples of his head” i.e. love him while you still can, as his epigones will not be so lovable.
[26] Narrated from Abu Ṣaliḥ the mu'adhdhin, from Abu Hurayra by Aḥmad and Ibn Abi Shayba (7:461 #37235) with the number 70 cf. al-Haythami (7:220) but cited by al-Suyuṭi in Ziyadat al-Jami' al-Ṣaghir (#2040) and the Kanz (#30854) with the number 60. Also – second sentence only – from Abu Hurayra, Hani' ibn Nyar, and Ḥudhayfa ibn al-Yaman by al-Tirmidhi (ḥasan) and Aḥmad with sound chains cf. Fatḥ (1:129-131).
[27] Cf. Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, al-Tamhid (2:303) and al-Shawkani, Nayl al-Awṭar (9:167).
[28] Narrated from Abu Sa'id by Aḥmad, al-Bukhari in Khalq Af'al al-'Ibad (p. 117), al-Ṭabarani in al-Awsaṭ (9:131), Ibn Ḥibban (3:32 #755), and al-Ḥakim (1990 ed. 2:406 ṣaḥiḥ and 4:590 isnad ṣaḥiḥ), all "with a good strong chain meeting the Sunan criteria”: Ibn Kathir, Bidaya (6:228) cf. al-Haythami (6:231).
[29] Narrated from al-Sha'bi from al-Ḥarith al-A'war by Ibn Abi Shayba (7:548 #37854).
[30] Cited by Ibn Kathir in al-Bidaya (6:228).
[31] Narrated by Ibn 'Asakir in Mukhtaṣar Tarikh Dimashq (29:192) and cited by al-Dhahabi.
[32] Narrated by Ibn Sa'd (4:57, 2:119).
[33] Yazid ibn Mu'awiya's general.
[34] Narrated from 'Ubayd Allah ibn Sa'id by Ibn 'Asakir in Tarikh Dimashq (13:206) and cited by al-Dhahabi in the chapter on 'Abd Allah ibn 'Amr in the Siyar (4:266).
[35] Narrated by al-Bukhari.
[36] Narrated by al-Bukhari and Aḥmad.
[37] Narrated by al-Bukhari, Muslim, and Aḥmad.
[38] Narrated from Ibn 'Umar by Abu Ya'la (10:66 #5702) and, as part of a longer narration, by Ibn Abi Ḥatim in his 'Ilal (2:256 #2262).
[39] Narrated by Malik in his Muwaṭṭa'.
[40] Such as orientalists, Arab and Turkish modernists, the Shi'a, and the multifarious sects – in the Subcontinent and elsewhere – who propound the Qur'an as the sole source of legislation in Islam.
[41] Cited by Ibn Abi Ḥadid quoting Abu Ja'far al-Iskafi's forgery, both of them Mu'tazili Shi'is. Cf. al-Mu'allami, al-Anwar al-Kashifa (p. 152-153), 'Ajaj al-Khaṭib, al-Sunna Qabl al-Tadwin (p. 457), and al-'Izzi, Difa' 'an Abi Hurayra (p. 123).
[42] Such as al-Naẓẓam, Bishr al-Marisi, Maḥmud Abu Rayya, and 'Abd al-Ḥusayn Sharaf al-Din as cited by Muḥammad al-Khaṭib.
[43] See Muḥammad al-Khaṭib's al-Sunna Qabl al-Tadwin for most of these issues. Among the best early refutations of these claims is Ibn Qutayba's Ta'wil Mukhtalif al-Ḥaditḥ Among the best modern ones other than Dr. Muḥammad al-Khaṭib's are the works of Dr. Muṣṭafa al-Siba'i, Dr. Nur al-Din 'Itr, Dr. Muṣṭafa al-A'ẓami, and Muḥibb al-Din al-Khaṭib's epitome of Ibn al-'Arabi's al-'Awaṣim min al-Qawaṣim. See also Dr. Muḥammad ibn 'Alawi al-Mustashriqun Bayn al-Inṣaf wal-'Aṣabiyya.
[44] Narrated di Ibn Sa'd (4:327) e reiterò da Muḥammad al-Khaṭib in al-Sunna Qabl al-Tadwin (p. 420).
[45] As narrarono con due linee autentica da Aḥmad nel suo Musnad. Anche narrò da Ibn Sa'd (4:2, 4:327) ed Ibn Ḥajar in al-Iṣaba (4:206).
[46] Narrated di Ibn Ḥibban con una linea autentica come affermato da Shaykh Shu'ayb al-Arna'uṭ (16:110 #7156) e da Bazzar nel suo Musnad con una linea autentica come affermato da Haytami.
[47] Narrated di 'Abd al-Razzaq (2:96), Ibn Abi Shayba (1:110), al-Bayhaqi in al - Sunan (2:59), Abū Nu'aym nel Ḥilya, ed Ibn Ḥazm in al-Muḥalla (2:59).
[48] Ibn Ḥazm, al-Iḥkam fi Uṣul al-Aḥkam (4:563).
[49] Op. cit. (5:88).
[50] Narrated by Abu Nu'aym in the Ḥilya (1:383) and al-Dhahabi in the Siyar (Risala ed. 2:623) and Tadhkira (1:35)
[51] Narrated by Abu Nu'aym in the Ḥilya (1:383), al-Bayhaqi in the Sunan (8:79), Ibn Ḥazm in al- Muḥalla (10:396), Ibn al-Jawzi in Ṣifat al-Ṣafwa (1:691), al-Dhahabi in the Siyar (Risala ed. 2:610) and Tadhkirat al-Ḥuffaz. (1:35), Ibn Rajab in Jami' al-'Ulum wal-Ḥikam, and Ibn Ḥajar in the Iṣaba (7:442) where he said that Ibn Sa'd narrates it with a sound chain in his Ṭabaqat.
[52] Al-Suyuṭi, al-Ḥawi lil-Fatawa. Cf. section on dhikr-beads in al-Shawkani's Nayl al-Awṭar (2:316-317) and Zakariyya al-Kandihlawi's Ḥayat al-Ṣaḥaba. Albani's astounding claim that whoever carries dhikr-beads in his hand to remember Allah is misguided and innovating was refuted in Maḥmud Sa'id's Wuṣul al-Tahani bi Ithbat Sunniyyat al-Sibḥa wal-Radd 'ala al-Albani ("The Alighting of Mutual Benefit and the Confirmation that Dhikr-Beads are a Sunna in Refutation of Albani”). Another refutation was published by Ḥamid Mirza Khan al-Firghani al-Namnakani in the seventh of his al-Masa'il al-Tis' (Madina: Maktabat al-Iman, 1985) p. 44-48.
[53] Narrated by al-Baghawi as cited by Ibn Kathir in al-Bidaya.
[54] Narrated by Aḥmad and al-Nasa'i with a sound chain per Ibn Kathir in al-Bidaya.
[55] Narrated by Ibn Abi al-Dunya as cited by Ibn Kathir in al-Bidaya.
[56] Narrated from Abu Hurayra by Abu Nu'aym as cited by Ibn Ḥajar in Fatḥ al-Bari.
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