Ahmad 565

Its isnad is very daif. Harith is Ibn Abdullah Awar Hamadani, one of the senior Tabiin. We seek Allah's guidance concerning him, and the view of those who declared him daif is the stronger one.Bukhari said in Tarikh al-Kabir 1/2/271, quoting Ibrahim, that he used to accuse Harith of lying. He also said, quoting Mughira, "I heard Shaybi say, 'Harith narrated to us, and I bear witness that he was one of the liars.'" After that, Bukhari did not mention any endorsement of him. Something similar appears in Tarikh Saghir, page 178.In Mizan, it is stated that Ayub said, "Ibn Sirin used to hold that most of what is narrated from Ali is false." It also states that Ibn Madini said, "He was a liar." The reports from Ibn Main about him vary, but most of what is transmitted from him is that he declared him daif.In Tahdhib, quoting Ibn Shahin in Thiqat, it is said that Ahmad bin Salih Misri said, "Harith Awar is trustworthy. How well he remembered, and how excellent what he narrated from Ali!" He praised him highly. He was asked, "But Shaybi said he used to lie?" He replied, "He did not lie in hadith, his lying was only in his personal opinion!" This is a weak and far-fetched interpretation. What does lying in opinion even mean here? Shaybi himself says, "Harith narrated to us, and I bear witness that he was one of the liars!"Dhahabi said in Mizan, "Harith's hadith appears in the four Sunan works. Nasai, despite his strictness regarding narrators, used him as evidence and strengthened his standing. The majority hold his standing to be weak, even though they narrate his hadith in various chapters. Here is Shaybi, who calls him a liar and yet narrates from him. It seems he used to lie in his everyday speech and stories, but not in Prophetic hadith." This too is a weak statement, for lying in ordinary speech and stories undermines a person's integrity and casts doubt on the hadith of such a liar. Moreover, I do not think Shaybi meant this distinction at all.As for what has been related from Nasai, there is some laxity in it, for Nasai actually declared him daif in his book Duafa wal-Matrukin, where he said, "Harith bin Abdullah Awar is not strong."Hafiz said in Tahdhib, responding to Dhahabi, "I say, Nasai did not use him as evidence. He only included, in his Sunan, one hadith from him paired with Ibn Maysara, and another in Yawm wal-Layla as a supporting narration. This is the entirety of what he has in his collection."