1) Hadith Al-Thaqalayn: The Prophet At ‘Arafat (Part 1)
It was 10 H (632 CE), during the last Hajj of the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alaihi wa alihi. Muslims from all corners of the then Islamic world had gathered together at ‘Arafat for the prescribed pilgrimage rites, under his leadership and guidance. It was here that the Prophet delivered one of the most significant sermons in the entire history of humankind. Imam al-Tirmidhi (d. 279 H) records what happened:
حدثنا نصر بن عبد الرحمن الكوفي حدثنا زيد بن الحسن هو الأنماطي عن جعفر بن محمد عن أبيه عن جابر بن عبد الله قال رأيت رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم في حجته يوم عرفة وهو على ناقته القصواء يخطب فسمعته يقول يا أيها الناس إني قد تركت فيكم ما إن أخذتم به لن تضلوا كتاب الله وعترتي أهل بيتي
Nasr b. ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Kufi - Zayd b. al-Hasan al-Anmati - Ja’far b. Muhammad - his father - Jabir b. ‘Abd Allah:
I saw the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, during his Hajj on the Day of ‘Arafat while he was on his camel, al-Qaswa, delivering a sermon, and I heard him saying: “O mankind! I have left behind over you
that which if you hold fast to it you will never go astray: the Book of Allah and my offspring, my Ahl al-Bayt.”
Al-Tirmidhi says on the riwayah:
وهذا حديث حسن غريب من هذا الوجه و زيد بن الحسن قد روى عنه سعيد بن سليمان وغير واحد من أهل العلم
And this hadith is hasan gharib (i.e. has a hasan chain) from this route. As for Zayd b. al-Hasan, Sa’id b. Sulayman and others from the people of knowledge have narrated from him.
‘Allamah al-Albani also has a simple comment:
صحيح
Sahih
In his al-Sahihah, the ‘Allamah further states:
" يا أيها الناس! إني قد تركت فيكم ما إن أخذتم به لن تضلوا، كتاب الله
وعترتي أهل بيتي ".
أخرجه الترمذي (2 / 308) والطبراني (2680) عن زيد بن الحسن الأنماطي عن جعفر عن أبيه عن جابر بن عبد الله قال: " رأيت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم في حجته يوم عرفة، وهو على ناقته القصواء يخطب، فسمعته يقول: " فذكره، وقال: " حديث حسن غريب من هذا الوجه، وزيد بن الحسن قد روى عنه سعيد بن سليمان وغير واحد من أهل العلم ".
قلت: قال أبو حاتم، منكر الحديث، وذكره ابن حبان في " الثقات ". وقال الحافظ: " ضعيف ".
قلت: لكن الحديث صحيح، فإن له شاهدا من حديث زيد بن أرقم
“O mankind! I have left behind over you that which if you hold fast to it you will never go astray: the Book of Allah and my offspring, my Ahl al-Bayt.”
Al-Tirmidhi (2/308) and al-Tabarani (2680) recorded it from Zayd b. al-Hasan al-Anmati from Ja’far from his father from Jabir b. ‘Abd Allah, who said: “I saw the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, during his Hajj on the Day of ‘Arafat while he was on his camel, al-Qaswa, delivering a sermon, and I heard him saying” Then he (al-Tirmidhi) quoted it (i.e. the hadith), and said: “And this hadith is hasan gharib (i.e. has a hasan chain) from this route. As for Zayd b. al-Hasan, Sa’id b. Sulayman and others from the people of knowledge have narrated from him.”
I (al-Albani) say: Abu Hatim said: “Munkar al-hadith” and Ibn Hibban mentioned him in al-Thiqat (The Trustworthy Narrators). Al-Hafiz said: “Dha’if”.
I (al-Albani) say: But the hadith is sahih, for - verily - it has a witness (shahid) in the hadith of Zayd b. Arqam.
These words of al-Albani explain his methodology in grading the hadith as sahih. Unlike al-Tirmidhi, he considers the chain of the report to be dha’if (weak), due to Zayd b. al-Hasan al-Anmati. However, he believes that the Messenger did truly utter those words - as evidenced by the report of Zayd b. Arqam - at a location other than ‘Arafat.
The claim that the Prophet delivered the hadith at ‘Arafat, in addition to other places, comes only through the sanad of al-Anmati. As such, if his chain is dha’if, then it would be impossible to prove that those words were ever uttered at ‘Arafat - even though there is no doubt that he said them at another place. Meanwhile, Imam al-Tirmidhi believed that the Messenger of Allah declared the hadith at ‘Arafat, and later at Ghadir Khumm
. ‘Allamah al-Albani explains how:
أقول: وجه ذلك أن جمع الترمذي بين لفظتي " غريب " و" حسن " إنما يعني في اصطلاحه أنه حسن لذاته
I say: The reason for that is whenever al-Tirmidhi says “hasan gharib”, he only means in his terminologies that its chain is independently hasan.
So, basically, al-Tirmidhi considers al-Anmati to be reliable, and his sanad to be hasan.
We could then conclude the following from the research up to this level:
Al-Tirmidhi considers the chain of al-Anmati to be independently hasan while al-Albani grades the same sanad as dha’if.
It is only the sanad of al-Anmati which establishes that the hadith was pronounced at ‘Arafat too, in addition to Ghadir Khumm. Therefore, if the chain is dha’if, then there would be no evidence that the Prophet of Allah ever said those words at ‘Arafat.
To al-Tirmidhi, the Messenger uttered delivered the hadith at ‘Arafat, and later at Ghadir Khumm. However, in the opinion of al-Albani, it is NOT established that the Prophet made the statement at ‘Arafat, even though it is true that he said them later at Ghadir Khumm.
In rejecting the reliability of Zayd b. al-Hasan al-Anmati, ‘Allamah al-Albani has only Abu Hatim (d. 277 H) as his principal authority:
“ وزيد بن الحسن قد روى عنه سعيد بن سليمان وغير واحد من أهل العلم ".
قلت: قال أبو حاتم، منكر الحديث، وذكره ابن حبان في " الثقات ". وقال الحافظ: " ضعيف ".
(Al-Tirmidhi said): “As for Zayd b. al-Hasan, Sa’id b. Sulayman and others from the people of knowledge have narrated from him.”
I (al-Albani) say: Abu Hatim said: “Munkar al-hadith” and Ibn Hibban mentioned him in al-Thiqat (The Trustworthy Narrators). Al-Hafiz said: “Dha’if”.
We therefore know the following about al-Anmati:
Imam Ibn Hibban (d. 354 H) considers him thiqah (trustworthy), and has therefore included him in his al-Thiqat.
Imam al-Tirmidhi (d. 279 H) accepts al-Anmati’s ahadith as being independently hasan. This shows that he considers him reliable, most probably saduq (very truthful) in status.
Imam Abu Hatim (d. 277 H) calls him munkar al-hadith, meaning that his ahadith are “rejected”, very weak.
Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani (d. 852 H) also declares al-Anmati to be dha’if.
Needless to say, Abu Hatim was the only classical scholar who deemed al-Anmati to be unreliable. Therefore, al-Hafiz - a much later scholar - apparently only adopted this negative rating.
As such, the primary, uncorroborated source of the criticism against al-Anmati was Abu Hatim only.
Al-Hafiz relied upon the statements of the classical scholars to classify narrators. Since Abu Hatim was the sole classical critic of al-Anmati, then al-Hafiz had certainly relied only upon the former for his “dha’if” grading.
All these point in one direction only: Abu Hatim is the sole, unsupported primary critic of al-Anmati. We confirm absolutely too that no other classical Sunni hadith scientist levelled any criticism against al-Anmati apart from Abu Hatim. Therefore, if the criticism of Abu Hatim falls, then everything against al-Anmati collapses with it. So, we ask: what is the probative value of uncorroborated testimonies of Abu Hatim concerning narrators? Imam al-Dhahabi provides the apposite answer:
إذا وثق أبو حاتم رجلا فتمسك بقوله، فإنه لا يوثق إلا رجلا صحيح الحديث، وإذا لين رجلا، أو قال فيه: لا يحتج به. فتوقف حتى ترى ما قال غيره فيه، فإن وثقه أحد، فلا تبن على تجريح أبي حاتم، فإنه متعنت في الرجال
When Abu Hatim declared a narrator to be thiqah (trustworthy), then hold fast to his statement, because he never declared a narrator to be thiqah except a narrator whose ahadith are sahih. When he weakened a narrator, or said about him “he is not accepted as a hujjah”, then pause until you have seen what others also said about him (i.e. that narrator). If there was A SINGLE other person who declared him (i.e. the narrator) to be thiqah (trustworthy), then do NOT adopt the criticism of Abu Hatim, because he was pigheaded in rijal.
Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani also says about a narrator:
وفي الميزان أن أبا حاتم قال لا يحتج به فينتظر في ذلك وأبو حاتم عنده عنت وقد احتج به الجماعة
In al-Mizan, it is stated that Abu Hatim said “He is not accepted as a hujjah”. But, watch that carefully. There was pigheadedness in Abu Hatim. He (the narrator) has been accepted as a hujjah by the majority.
This is self-explanatory and straightforward:
Whenever Abu Hatim was the only classical critic against a narrator, then investigation must be conducted to find out if any other classical hadithist contradicted him.
If there was a single classical hadith scientist who contradicted Abu Hatim, then the latter’s criticism must be rejected.
Abu Hatim was the only classical critic of al-Anmati, and he was contradicted by both al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Hibban.
As such, the criticism of Abu Hatim is worthless, and al-Anmati is indeed reliable - whether thiqah (trustworthy) or saduq (very truthful) - as indicated by Ibn Hibban and al-Tirmidhi.
With these findings, it is neatly established that the chain of al-Anmati is sahih, or at least hasan, as declared by Imam al-Tirmidhi. This in turn proves that the Prophet of Allah did truly deliver Hadith al-Thaqalayn at ‘Arafat, among other places.
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Author: Toyib Olawuyi
