-
"Seek knowledge even as far as China."
Hadith HASAN MASHHūR - "fair, famous."
Note: Applied to a hadith, the term mashhūr refers to a type of ahad narration that has five to nine narrators at each link of its chain and is therefore nearly mass-narrated. Note that this is not an index of its authenticity as a mashhūr hadith may be either sahīh, hasan, or daʿīf. Also, the label of mashhūr is sometimes given to merely famous narrations which are not nearly-mass-narrated.
Narrated from Anas by al-Bayhaqi in Shuʿab al-Iman and al-Madkhal, Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr in Jamiʿ Bayan al-ʿIlm, and al-Khatib through three chains at the opening of his al-Rihla fi Talab al-Hadith (p. 71-76 #1-3) where our shaykh Dr. Nur al-Din ʿItr declares it weak (daʿīf ).
Also narrated from Ibn ʿUmar, Ibn ʿAbbas, Ibn Masʿud, Jabir, and Abu Saʿid al-Khudri, all through very weak chains.
The hadith master al-Mizzi said it has so many chains that it deserves a grade of fair (hasan), as quoted by
al-Sakhawi in al-Maqasid al-Hasana. Al-ʿIraqi in his Mughni ʿan Haml al-Asfar similarly stated that some scholars
declared it sound (sahīh) for that reason, even if al-Hakim and al-Dhahabi correctly said no sound chain is known
for it. Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr's "Salafi" editor Abu al-Ashbal al-Zuhayri declares the hadith hasan in Jamiʿ Bayan al-ʿIlm
(1:23ff.) but all the above fair gradings actually apply to the wording:
"Seeking knowledge is an obligation upon
every Muslim."
The first to declare the "China" hadith forged seems to be Ibn al-Qaysarani (d. 507) in his Maʿrifa al-Tadhkira (p. 101 #118). This grading was kept by Ibn al-Jawzi in his Mawduʿat but rejected, among others, by al-Suyuti in al-La'ali' (1:193), al-Mizzi, al-Dhahabi in Talkhis al-Wahiyat, al-Bajuri's student Shams al-Din al-Qawuqji (d. 1305) in his book al-Lu'lu' al-Marsuʿ (p. 40 #49), and notably by the Indian muhaddith Muhammad Tahir al-Fattani (d. 986) in his Tadhkira al-Mawduʿat (p. 17) in which he declares it hasan.
Al-Munawi, like Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr before him, gave an excellent explanation of the hadith in his Fayd al-Qadir (1:542). See also its discussion in al-ʿAjluni's Kashf al-Khafa' under the hadith: "Seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim," itself a fair (hasan) narration in Ibn Majah because of its many chains as stated by al-Mizzi, although al-Nawawi in his Fatawa (p. 258) declared it weak while Dr. Muhammad ʿAjaj al-Khatib in his notes on al-Khatib's al-Jamiʿ (2:462-463) declared it "sound due to its witness-chains" (sahīh li ghayrih). Cf. al-Sindi's Hashya Sunan Ibn Majah (1:99), al-Munawi's Fayd al-Qadir (4:267) and al-Sakhawi's al-Maqasid al-Hasana (p. 275-277).
Regarding the often-quoted words "from the cradle to the grave", it is certainly not a Prophetic hadith but advice by latter-day scholars.
This advice is particularly mnemonic because of the alliteration mahd (cradle) / lahd (the grave's side-niche). Hence "min al-mahd ila al-lahd."
More importantly, the advice is in conformity with the unqualified command to {say: O my nurturing Lord, increase me in knowledge} (Taha 20:114) and to "seek knowledge" i.e. without restriction of time, in the verse and the hadith respectively.
Wallahu Taʿala Aʿlam wa Ahkam.Allah Most High bless and greet the Apple of our eyes, Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ and all his Family and Companions!
Hajj Gibril
GF Haddad ©
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