Ahmad 6722

Its chain is daif because of the disconnection, for Sulayman bin Musa lived at a time too late for him to have met Abdullah bin Umar. It appears that he actually narrated it from Amr bin Shuayb from his father from his grandfather, but it occurs in the manuscripts of the Musnad this way, unconnected. It has already come in abbreviated form, mentioning only the marfu part of it, through the narration of Ismail from Layth bin Abu Salim from Amr bin Shuayb from his father from his grandfather (6673), and we noted this there. It will also come connected, through the narration of Affan from Hammad bin Salama from Layth from Amr bin Shuayb (7057), and we noted it there. The Hafiz said in Talkhis (p. 258), Tabarani narrated it in his Saghir, through the hadith of Amash from Amr bin Shuayb, and Amash narrated nothing else from Amr. So the basic marfu hadith is sahih without doubt, based on what we have explained here and there.The basis of this story, Abdullah bin Amr writing to his agent, is also sahih. Yahya bin Adam narrated in the Kitab Kharaj (no. 340 in our edition), Abu Bakr bin Ayyash told us from Shuayb bin Shuayb, the brother of Amr bin Shuayb, from his brother Amr bin Shuayb, from Salim, the freedman of Abdullah bin Amr, who said, "They offered me thirty thousand for the surplus water from his land at Wahat." He said, "So he wrote to Abdullah bin Amr, and he wrote back to me, 'Do not sell it, but keep to your turn, then water the nearest first, then the next nearest, for I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbid selling surplus water.'" Bayhaqi also narrated it in Sunan al-Kubra (6:16) with his chain going back to Yahya bin Adam, with this same chain.This is a connected, good chain, hasan if not sahih. We had mentioned there, in our commentary on Kharaj, that we had not found a biographical entry for Shuayb bin Shuayb, and that Ibn Saad (5:180) mentioned him among the children of Shuayb bin Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Amr. But I later found his biography in Tarikh al-Kabir by Bukhari (2/2/219), where he said, "Shuayb bin Shuayb bin Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Amr bin As, from his brother Amr bin Shuayb, as stated by Yahya bin Adam from Abu Bakr bin Ayyash." We also mentioned that we had not found a biography for Salim, the freedman of Abdullah bin Amr, but I later found his biography in the Kabir as well (2/2/119-120), where he said, "Salim, the steward of Abdullah bin Amr, also said to be his freedman, the Qurashi, the Sahmi, narrated from Abdullah bin Amr, and Amr bin Shuayb narrated from him." So these are two narrators for whom Bukhari provided biographical entries without mentioning any criticism of either, and one of them is a Tabii, so their narration is no less than the hasan level.As for his statement, "keep to your turn," it is with a kasra on the qaf and a sakin on the lam, meaning irrigation. It is said, "qalladtu az-zar," meaning "I watered it." Ibn Athir stated this, and also said, "meaning, when you water your land on your appointed turn, then give to the one next to you."Abu Yusuf the judge, the companion of Abu Hanifa, narrated in the Kitab Kharaj (pp. 114-115 of the Salafiyya edition), Muhammad bin Abdul-Rahman bin Abu Layla told me, from Amr bin Shuayb, from his father, from his grandfather, who said, "A servant boy of Abdullah bin Amr wrote to Abdullah bin Amr, 'To proceed, I have been offered thirty thousand for the surplus of my water, after I have fully irrigated my crops, my palm trees, and my orchard. If you see fit that I sell it and buy slaves with it to help you in your work, shall I do so?' So he wrote back to him, 'Your letter has reached me, and I have understood what you wrote to me. I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, "Whoever withholds surplus water in order to withhold surplus pasture, Allah will withhold from him His surplus on the Day of Resurrection." So when this letter of mine reaches you, water your palm trees, your crops, and your orchard, and whatever water remains, give it to your neighbors, the nearest first, then the next nearest. And peace.'"This is a good chain. Abu Yusuf the judge is trustworthy and truthful, criticized unjustly. Bukhari gave him a biographical entry in the Kabir (4/2/397) and said, "They abandoned him," and in Duafa (p. 38) said, "Yahya, Ibn Mahdi, and others abandoned him." Dhahabi gave him an entry in Mizan (3:321-322), and the Hafiz in Lisan Mizan (6:300-301), and Khatib in Tarikh Baghdad gave him an extensive biography (14:242-262). The fairest thing said about him is the statement of Ahmad bin Kamil, as reported by Khatib, "Yahya bin Main, Ahmad bin Hanbal, and Ali bin Madini did not differ regarding his trustworthiness in transmission." And what is reported in Lisan Mizan from Ibn Adi, he said, "Among the companions of legal reasoning, none has more hadith than him, except that he narrates from weak narrators, such as Hasan bin Umara and others, and he often disagrees with his companions and follows the transmitted text. When a trustworthy narrator transmits from him, and he himself transmits from a trustworthy narrator, there is no harm in him." And from Nasai, in the Kitab Duafa, when he mentioned the companions of Abu Hanifa, "Abu Yusuf is trustworthy." And from Ibn Hibban, that he mentioned him among the trustworthy and said, "He was a precise sheikh, who did not follow the path of his companion except in matters of secondary law, and he differed from them both in matters of faith and the Quran."As for Ibn Abu Layla, his hadith is hasan, as we explained in (778).This hadith, as recorded by Abu Yusuf, is a good corroborating witness for this Musnad hadith, indicating that Amr bin Shuayb narrated it from his father from his grandfather, while the hadith of Yahya bin Adam indicates that he also narrated it from the person at the center of the story, namely Salim, the freedman of Abdullah bin Amr. So these are narrations that support one another.