Authenticity Of Bukhari - Jamal Zarabozo

be found in the cotections of rmam ar-B'khari or Muslim. According to the lbadis, the most rrustwofttry chain is Rabi ibn Habeeb from Abu Ubaida from Jabir from any Companion. These up a great portion of the .bou. T*r cotection. According to the lbadis, after this cote.tion .Lr., sahih ar-Bukhari, sahih Musrim and the other werknown coilections arthough they do not admit that all that is in the works ofai-Bukhariand rnr*ri,n.r. necessarily authentic. I contemporary scholar, Muhammad .A Nasir al_Din al-Albani, is. also collecting a targe nuri., of authentic hadith together in a work entitled Silsilat al-Ahadith ar-,sahiha. He arso uses the term sahihto meirn both sahih and hassan The work "iir *ioin some 4,000 hadith and is being pubrished in vorumes of five hundred hadith each. tb a"t., four vorumes have been pubrished. The best aspect of this work is that af-Albani gives a comple te nhtreej of the fadith, i.e., he states everyone who recorded the hadith and he discussesthe narrators in the chain. He also has some other collection s, Sahih al_Jami alSagheer, fuhih Sunan ibn Majahand the ,*i to U" published &hih sunan at-Tirmidhi andfuhk s"r-n al-Nosai. But from a specialists, point ofview, these lafter works are not as valuable as he offers no discussion of the different hadith but he simply -----r stateswhether the hadith is sahihor not.t Al-Baghdadi and ar-Hakim Abu Abdutatr cat atTirmidhi's coilection of hadith sahihbut this is not proper at it contains many hadith which * ,".L. Similar is the case with al-Nasai,s collection or Ahmad's Mwnadalthough both ofthese works have been referred to, orfoccasion, u sahih.

Criticismof HadithFound fn Sahihal-Bukharior Sahlh Musfim. obviousryno humanbeing,saverhose Arrrrr hu ch-osento protect,-iscompletety safe fromio*, mistakesor forgetfulness.Therefore, it should not be surprisingthat somescholarsof hadith,suchu ar-Daraqurriand Abu Ari ar-Jayani ar-Ghasrur, have gone through sahih ar-Buklurri and sahlh Musrim with a fine-toothed comb to check rtr authenticity. such schorars havecomeup wih 00ma two hundred nren$ hadith (of whichinty eighty may beTa found in Unin aLButhari)U,", noy feelcanbecriticized.But critics may arsobewron3. 11f.a.,, ibn Hajr hasrefutedmany of the criricismr of ttresahih ofar-Bukhari in his introduction to urd comrnentaryon thatwork. Al_Iraqi, ibn al_Salah and al-Nawawi have arso perfo*.a' simirar job, f", sahih Musrim- Some ichoran have craimed rhar there are some hadith n sattih Musrim that have brokenchains-Rasheedar-Attarrefurca suchcraims hadithby hadith. Thehadithtrat arecriticizedin the nyo coilections may be classifiedas follows: (l) criticism of the addition or deretionof some niuratorsin the chain.If someone hasbeenaropp.a from the chain, the chain becomes broken and shouldbc considcredweak.For example, the story pl 9" rwo graveswas rclated by al-Amash from Mujahid from Tawus from ibn Abbas. AlDaraquhi, in his criticism, says that this chain differs from what MuammarretateA as he narrated it directly from Mujatrid on the authority of ibn

'il;J',i"l3l;1iffi1'"fl;;::;Tilffi"[:ffi,fl0;n.:::1ji:I^::l.l"1f

ffi:i"11"'l?I:i3ill",lHrmrpitm#r,ilFs?:*4ET,}i]$H:1ffi ,fls:ffi T",ff jt$fi nffix-: ;?$*""f1 w*lxxwly":ffiifl=ffiJ,,;ytr"i{M,T_H*;

thatmeetanorhe/scriteriabur ,rShams al-Din Ar-sakniwii,-iiiiZtii,6#;#""Wy:fl:#ffff;?,irfli;J|;il;i?'JLll,rrrlr,"_;;;;, p. 35. ,, tndrrnlai

:-

Qlra--

tlAhrr

tl..-

-l

-.

Fl:-

l.lalia

^r

;a-

^

l-r:!L--

l:il":#i;',[:lii,:'if ,ffi5.t"Sl;ff frjT,fliT,L$;,.':r:*[,-g,Bierur,lsE4),vor.1,pp.3e-42 l,['Ii:',xfg;;n'u:1:flli**#1fi1#f:ffi:i[fihf:"#,J,ifi":"1]at?"',fii1-,o i'lXTi::;:8,1f?ffi:r'll r r ilT3l?Sahr,ibnKtuzaimtiuJril'l'rffi f b i d, .p . 2 2 . '',!ffJ'lT:"f,ft1T';#'ffn['ff,th:,El"ffilr,:]T":T:T:rs ralhirl

s

)')

ed'ion ofthe safirh and, l"^rybrflef ,ff *hi#^Y!,2r'; *:tiF""iarmf,xx*,i*;:brl'y:::L$T$s::Tff{fr",lEr' u''E'rr'-t'r^€s In ule text' The book is

Abdul/

l:"lig Safrh tbn Khuzai" iiiii-frYr r cr, alsynan,-redan, cr Muhammao yusufAffivish , r'arn"r';; 1ss7). ion il' i,"uftffiffi:'r;,;;f":,;Z;;#r:Z!"1[iXHl;ffi:\t;:]ho,r"* ;::trix2:l:tf?l A

caai-l

6-

l

:r

re

7.

z But he almost always gives a reference to where a complete discussbn )

Rrli

ha

aln^-r

-L--^..-

rr";;;:

of the hadirh may be bund.

;;;::

FeatureM Abbas (i.e., without Tawus). At_Bukhari records the chain which does not mention Tawus. This, af-

Daraqumi argues, is a q,peoia"r*i. il" *i.jr, ," . longdiscussion or tnis-irlitr, andits criricism,

showsthat ail of the "*ri"" arethiqa,havenot beenaccused of tadr isrnJiii.r known ro havemet one another'Therefore' it is very possibtethat Muja'id heard the hadith aom both Tawus and directry from ibn Abbas. ai;.. both - --- chains -"8"'r are probablycorrect,thereis no aaear.| (2) Someofthe hadith in the two sahihshave been criticizedbecause in one.t.irr. certainperson was mentionedwhife in another chain, difi;;;;;", wasmentioned'rf thereis no way to discoverwhich chain is correcl th: "rgui"n, srates,the hadith shoutdbe considgrgda rd;C;eak hadithknown asmudhtar,r6. This is noinecessarily *.. Fi"i i, i, highly possibrethat the rr.ait-il* comefrom both sourcesandtherewould no probfem*i,f,,r.i-an o c c u r r e n c e .S e c o n d ,!e if both of the ,oui.., m e n t i o n e d. 1 . , o f t h e h i g h e s ta . g d - o f trustworthinessandprofi cien.y,jt w i || notaffectth e hadith rcgardtessoF which il*,,y ;H:.:irhe (3) Some of the hadith are criricized because they contain additionaf words that are not mentioned by other niurators who nara,J ir,. same hadith. As long as there is no .ono"i;.tion benyeen the two narrations, this is not necessarirya sign of a defect. (4) Some hadith have b".; accused of being sof itary (Ar., ghareeb)ana c-o-Jng only *om a weak narrator' There exists onry two such hadith in the two Sahihs and tht

evidence," *ffiflffi #,*T":TJ#il,il

chainof tsmaeiiun Ail uJi

fr.m Marik*om Zaid ibn Aslam from hi, fbth; hasbeencriticized by al-Daraquhibecause rr. .o"tiaers Ismaerto be weak.Ibn Hajr pointedout thattsmaelisnottheonly onewho reratedthereferreo to i"am but itwas arso relaredby Man ibn Isa frorn Marik. F'rthermore, al-NasaicarfedIsmaer..at *iit. nnrra and ibn

"2 I* :,F-l!?-l.af-Daraqutni rot a gencral rer

Maeensay that there is no probremwith him and Abu Hatimacceptshim ashonestbut mistakeprone. The second.chainth;;baraqumi criticizes is ubaly ibn Abbasftom 'Ji ib" saadfrom his father from his gran-dfadrer. ar--oLqutni cated ubayy weakbut ibn'ajrstrowea tr,"i he is supportedin this hadith by the-n.rr",ion--Jf ni, brorher Abdul Muhaimin. (5) Someofthe narrators mayhavehadsomedoubt cast upon ,!",ln, especiall i aV the very tough jy! and'ndeei.i Th?tT ot ,rr" inhoductionto Farh al-Bari,.ibn Hajr dil;; eachnarratorthar has beencriticized. Agrffy, dris is personar j uristicrcasoning. gukl,oia questionof iiandMusrim werc expertsofjarh maia&,.na ii"an'b#;*" that their conciusiont "uo* ,r,esenamatorswere soundones., (6) Hadith in which different words are used in different narration,or tr,, liaii

there .*irt,io conhadicti"* ,h1;

tt"HTril,iltf Only if there is no way to reconcilethe differences can this be considereda Aefeci Ahmad Shakir poinb ou, n* when al-Daraquhi criticized thesahih n^aii oi J_gohrrrt o, U*ir^, he was ging to show o"i-trro* particurarhadith wenenot from

had i,h, d;aH"ili':,9:#ttrj 5]illi|#rf

Muslim shourdnot haveiniuded them in their coflections.It was not necessarilythe casethat he considercdthesehadith ,rrt i for many hadi&, af-Daraqunrisimptysaia mtJ-Bnkhari or Musrim should have recordedit fr.;;ain X insteadof arongrrat d," rextofthe hadith ,rti;ilrl:fmittingatl Ibn al-salahpointsout tru r*: of the principles that at-Daraqutri UrrJ fr-ir..CIi.,r,- on ilrc weak andrejectedby majority ofthe scholars., Buq as $g ibn Hajr note4 trt.*rrnot "l;;s in ibn Hajr's opinion, ;N;;'"li"v, the case.In fact, is the defect hidden. Most of th"'times ,f,. ,"rponse to the criticism is obviousurd ne defed is refirable. In a

hasdainedhasa brokendrain andibnHairhasshowntharir docsnor,sceaf-syuti , Tdfb,

:r*:'eo'il:=rll'll,''r*iJ;ffi *FIffi *rffi#$#i#fl di#ftH;:,"'"::Knva

r See Muqbatibn I p.5 s cf" Muhy af-Dinal-Nawawi ' Me Tams ilaihi Hajat al-eari tiehih ar-rmamar-gukhari(f,fakkah: Dar af€az), p. 67. Sept.-Oct. t ggg

J. Zanbozo - page I

AI-Basleer

very few cases the responses are unsound.,,, Elsewhere, commenting upon a hadith that al_ Daraqurricriticized, he statei,,.Its defect is clearand the response [to the criticism] is abnorm"i."o unsound."t Al-Nawawi, in his commenhry to Sahih Muslim also acceptedar-Daraquhi's criticism on a few occasions. Among the schorars that have criticized a few hadith from rhese collections is ibn faimiyal ntAlbani has also declared some, very few, of *re hadith in these collections to be weak.. What ibn al-Salah said is still correct though, "Everything in the nro sahihsis considered certain knowledge save for the few hadith that have Ueen criticized by the hadith scholars.,, Ibn Hajr utro,,."J, a s i m i l a r s t a t e m e n t . tS h a k i r concludes that everything in the two sahilts may be considered sahih.

Gradinga Hadithas Sahih Today A n y h a d i th , w h e th e r re l ated by al- Bukhar i, Muslim, al-Hakim or anyone else, shnds on its own merit. To say that a hadith is sahihtakes . gr.ui d..t of research *l knowledge and then, nriafy, on. must make tjtehad to make a final pronoun.-"rn"n, on the hadith. Ibn ar-sararr was of the opinion ii"t, 1nthe:un. way that the door to ijtehadwas closed in the field ofjurisprudence,6 it shourd arso be crosed in the field of hadith. He fert that no one reached the level of knowledge of the early scholars and, therefore, no one was qualified to call a hadith ( w h i c h no e a rri e r sch o ra r h ad decr ar ed to i" authentic) sahih., Al_Nawawi and al_lraqi ,en trA

his claim and showed the fallacy of his argument. Scholar s such as al - M undhi r i at- n{aqai s i , al Nawawi, ibn Hajr and al_Albani have used their knowledge ro crassifi hadith rong after,r,. plring of the heyday of the sciences of hadith. Nur al-Din Atar makes the point that the grading ofhadith today is not as simpleas some people thinkespecially with respect to sponing defetts. H. ro,., that if a person is far away fi.; the time of ,n. niurators of the hadith, he should not think that it is a simple thing just to go to the books ofnarrators and then start making judgments about the hadith. one should be especially careful, he says, when it comes to contradicting the concrusions of the earry and great schorars. In fact, one shourd not state with certainty that a hadith is sahih- if the earrier scholars did not oy ro-..lut-should say, like what al-Syuti ..the recommended, hadith is sahih,Allah wiffini.,;a His discussion is probably meant to be a direcr criticism of Atar's contemporary al_Albani. The point he makes is an important one though. Many the early scholars irad berween them and the Ir.: Prophet only two, three or four narrators. For exampfe, a gpical chain n Sahih al_Buklun may consist of his teacher, his teacher,s teachei, a Follower and a Companion. Therefore, it was much easier to really know the personality and the mistakes of each person in the chain. They L;* their teachers on a personal and direct level. Obviously, much of thi detailed information that is anained by personal contact cannot all be captured in the books of ttre niurators. Therefore, the early scholars' pronouncements on hadith (especially with respect to defects) should not be taken'lightf. Caution should especially be taken because of certain defects that may not be as noticeabre to the scholars of today as they were to the schorars of thc

r fbn Hajr, Hactyu, p 393. z lbid., b. gZO.

s SeeAhmad ibnTaimiya,Maimuat Fata.wi(Riyadh: Dar al-,1fra,_tgzg), c see' forexample'al.Albani'silo7ii.. vol.l.E, p, aroia6ii, uJ. i, p. glo'oir&. iinlvibr,, 72 ailvol. 13, p. 353. s Hadyu,p 19. u"iaii'"lrrr.r,r, 1987),p. r33r. e This was a oomm.olmisconception durin_g agel of Musr'n z Al-svuu and ibn Hajrhave o;g J;ssions history. !."__d:rk over the "i:l11tt*g ;f il;"isatatrt lhat latErscholrrs coufdcall aiaoith Dassan rrrtenrent. For eHmpb, dH h. ,n rn out not uninr 1ct., xf,.roii'.mr,o. af-Daral-saudiva'19E5)'vol' Z'pp' o, eJii tnflaf ar-Muhoditheen(Jrddr: ergr'l rnt .rti"r ooes not feeitr,"itir.l, an irnponinii"tt"r to forow up on. Erthrr

s.r,oien 6"sir'bn i:,^!:'fi';[:ilJif:,il:i:ili##:ff"*n:gtf:f:,il:Sj,:,*sion orat,orrhc

e Atar,p.281.