Ahmad 7169

Its isnad is sahih, even though it appears daif and disconnected due to the unknown identity of one of its narrators, since its connection becomes clear from other narrations, as we will mention, Allah willing. I have discussed this in detail in my commentary on Tirmidhi [vol. 1, pp. 402-406, hadith no. 207]. Then I found other paths for it, so I will verify it here more fully than I verified it there, Allah willing.It seems to me that Amash heard it from an unnamed man, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurairah, and also heard it from Abu Salih himself. So doubt crept into his memory of hearing it, and he would sometimes narrate it from a man, from Abu Salih, as here, and sometimes say, "I was told, from Abu Salih, though I believe I did hear it myself," and sometimes the doubt would leave him entirely, so he would narrate it from Abu Salih without any doubt. The hadith is established from Abu Salih through routes other than Amash's narration, and it is also established from Abu Hurairah through routes other than Abu Salih's narration, with sahih chains.Abu Dawud narrated it [1/517-204, per Awn al-Mabud numbering, no. 203] from Ahmad bin Hanbal, with this same isnad given here. Bayhaqi narrated it, 1:430, through the route of Abu Dawud, from Ahmad. Bukhari narrated it in Tarikh al-Kabir [1/1/78], from Yusuf bin Rashid, from Ibn Fudayl, with this isnad. Yusuf bin Rashid, Bukhari's teacher, is Yusuf bin Musa bin Rashid Qattan, whose biography appears in Tahdhib, 11:425, and Tarikh Baghdad, 14:304-305.Tirmidhi said in Sunan, 1:403, with our commentary, 1:183, Mubarakfuri's commentary, that Asbat bin Muhammad narrated from Amash, who said, "I was told, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurairah, from the Prophet." So these two narrated it from Amash, and both mentioned that he left unnamed the teacher who related it to him from Abu Salih. Ahmad narrated, as will come later at 8958, from Abdullah bin Numayr, from Amash, who said, "I was told, from Abu Salih, though I believe I did hear it myself," and so on. Likewise Abu Dawud narrated it, no. 518, from Hasan bin Ali, from Ibn Numayr, from Amash, who said, "I was informed, from Abu Salih," he said, "though I believe I did hear it from him," and so on. Bayhaqi narrated it, 1:430-431, through the route of Abu Dawud, with the same wording. So here is one narrator, namely Ibn Numayr, who related from Amash both his uncertainty about his teacher's identity, and then his conclusion that he had heard it directly from Abu Salih, a strong conclusion resembling certainty. Bukhari mentioned in Tarikh al-Kabir [1/1/78] a similar narration in passing, without giving its isnad, saying, "Amash said, 'I heard Abu Salih, or it reached me from him, from Abu Hurairah, from the Prophet ﷺ'," similarly.Then, from Amash, from Abu Salih, without any intermediary and without any doubt in it, as far as I was able to gather from its routes, ten trustworthy narrators related it, most of them reliable memorizers.Among them is Sufyan Thawri. Ahmad narrated it, as will come, at 7805, from Abdul-Razzaq, at 9943, from Abdul-Rahman bin Mahdi, and at 10100, from Waki, all three of them from Thawri, from Amash, from Abu Salih.Among them is Mamar. Ahmad narrated it at 7805, from Abdul-Razzaq, from Mamar, together with Thawri, from Amash, from Abu Salih.Among them is Sufyan bin Uyayna. Shafii narrated it in Umm, 1:141, from Sufyan, that is Ibn Uyayna, from Amash, from Abu Salih.Among them is Zaida bin Qudama. Tayalisi narrated it in his Musnad, no. 2404, from Zaida, from Amash, from Abu Salih. Ahmad narrated it, 9473m, from Muawiya bin Amr, from Zaida, with the same wording.Among them is Muhammad bin Ubayd Tanafisi Ahdab. Ahmad narrated it at 9472, from Muhammad bin Ubayd, from Amash, from Abu Salih. Bayhaqi narrated it in Sunan al-Kubra, 1:430, through the route of Amr bin Abdul-Ghaffar, from Muhammad bin Ubayd, with the same wording.Among them is Abu Ahwas Salam bin Salim. Tirmidhi narrated it, no. 207, with our commentary, from Hannad, from Abu Ahwas, from Amash, from Abu Salih.Among them is Abu Muawiya Muhammad bin Khazim Darir. Tirmidhi also narrated it, from Hannad, from Abu Muawiya, together with Abu Ahwas, from Amash, from Abu Salih.Among them is Sharik bin Abdullah Nakhai. Ahmad narrated it at 9473, from Aswad bin Amir, from Sharik, from Amash, from Abu Salih.Among them is Abu Hamza Sukkari Muhammad bin Maymun Marwazi. Bayhaqi narrated it in Sunan al-Kubra, 1:430, through the route of Abdullah bin Uthman, from Abu Hamza Sukkari, from Amash, from Abu Salih. The Hafiz mentioned in Talkhis, p. 77, that Bazzar also narrated it through the route of Abu Hamza, from Amash, from Abu Salih.Among them is Suhayl bin Abu Salih. Bayhaqi narrated it, 1:430, through the route of Muhammad bin Jafar bin Abu Kathir, from Suhayl bin Abu Salih, from Amash, from Abu Salih. Bukhari referred to this narration in Tarikh al-Kabir [1/1/78], saying, "Suhayl bin Abu Salih narrated it from Amash, from Abu Salih." Suhayl was a contemporary of Amash.So these are ten narrators, to whom can be added Hafs bin Ghiyath, though I did not find his narration with a full isnad leading to him, rather Tirmidhi mentioned it in passing, following his narration of the hadith. He said, "The hadith of Abu Hurairah was narrated by Sufyan Thawri, Hafs bin Ghiyath, and more than one other, from Amash, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurairah, from the Prophet."Shawkani related in Nayl Awtar, 2:13, from Daraqutni, that Ibrahim bin Humayd Ruasi said, Amash said, "And I did hear it from Abu Salih," and that Hushaym narrated it from Amash, who said, "Abu Salih told us, from Abu Hurairah." Then Shawkani said, "So what remains from these routes is that Amash heard it from someone other than Abu Salih, then heard it from him directly." Uraymi said, "All of it is sahih, and the hadith is connected."Then Suhayl bin Abu Salih also narrated it directly from his father, even though he had also narrated it from him through the intermediary of Amash, as we mentioned earlier. Ahmad narrated it at 9418, from Qutayba bin Saeed, from Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad Darawardi, from Suhayl, from his father. The Hafiz mentioned in Talkhis, p. 77, that Ibn Hibban also narrated it from the hadith of Darawardi, from Suhayl, with the same wording, and that Ibn Khuzayma also narrated it through the route of Abdul-Rahman bin Ishaq and Muhammad bin Umara, from Suhayl, with the same wording. The Hafiz then mentioned the isnad of Ahmad's report at 9418, and said, Ibn Abdul-Hadi said, "Muslim narrated with this isnad about fourteen hadiths." Shafii narrated it in his Musnad, 1:58, arranged by Shaykh Muhammad Abid Sindi, Egyptian edition of the year 1370, with similar wording, from Ibrahim bin Muhammad bin Abu Yahya, from Suhayl, from his father. Bayhaqi likewise narrated it in Sunan al-Kubra, 1:430, through the route of Shafii, with this isnad.As for Ibrahim bin Muhammad bin Abu Yahya, even though some have criticized him, his hadith is good in my view, because Shafii, who was his student and among those most familiar with him, used to say, "That Ibrahim should fall from a height is more preferable to him than that he should lie," and he was trustworthy in hadith. See the detailed account of our opinion of him in our commentary on Sahih Ibn Hibban, no. 94.Beyond all this, neither Amash nor Suhayl was alone in narrating it from Abu Salih. Ahmad also narrated it, at 8896 and 10676, from Musa bin Dawud, from Zuhayr bin Muawiya, from Abu Ishaq Sabi, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurairah. This is a sahih isnad, with no flaw in it and no defect.Abu Salih Samman also narrated it from Ayesha, just as he narrated it from Abu Hurairah. Ahmad narrated it in the Musnad, 6:65, Halabi edition, from Abu Abdul-Rahman Muqri, who said that Haywa bin Shurayh told them, saying that Nafi bin Sulayman told him that Muhammad bin Abu Salih told him, from his father, that he heard Ayesha, the Prophet's ﷺ wife, say, "The Messenger of Allah said, 'The imam is a guarantor, and the muezzin is trusted, so may Allah guide the imam rightly and forgive the muezzin.'" Bayhaqi narrated it in Sunan al-Kubra, 1:431, through the route of Abu Abdul-Rahman Muqri, with this isnad. Bukhari narrated it in Tarikh al-Kabir [1/1/78], from Abdullah bin Yazid, who is Abu Abdul-Rahman Muqri, with this isnad, abridged, as is his habit in Tarikh al-Kabir. Then he referred to some of the other narrations, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurairah, as we quoted from him earlier.Some scholars considered this narration a defect in the narration of Abu Salih from Abu Hurairah, while others considered the narration of Abu Salih from Abu Hurairah a defect in his narration from Ayesha, and some declared both narrations daif altogether!Tirmidhi said in Sunan, after narrating the hadith of Abu Hurairah and referring to the hadith of Ayesha, "I heard Abu Zura say, 'The hadith of Abu Salih from Abu Hurairah is more sahih than the hadith of Abu Salih from Ayesha.' And I heard Muhammad, meaning Bukhari, say, 'The hadith of Abu Salih from Ayesha is more sahih.'" And he, meaning Bukhari, mentioned from Ali bin Madini that neither the hadith of Abu Salih from Abu Hurairah nor the hadith of Abu Salih from Ayesha is established regarding this matter.Ibn Abu Hatim said in Kitab Ilal [no. 217, vol. 1, p. 81], "I heard my father, when Suhayl bin Abu Salih and Abbad bin Abu Salih were mentioned, say, 'The two of them are brothers, and I do not know of any other brother of theirs, except what Haywa bin Shurayh narrated from Nafi bin Sulayman, from Muhammad bin Abu Salih, from his father, from Ayesha, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said, "The imam is a guarantor, and the muezzin is trusted. O Allah, guide the imams rightly, and forgive the muezzins." Amash narrates this hadith from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurairah, from the Prophet ﷺ.'" [I said], "So which of the two is more sahih?" He said, "The hadith of Amash, and Nafi bin Sulayman is not strong." I said, "So is Muhammad bin Abu Salih the brother of Suhayl and Abbad?" He said, "That is how they narrate it."Thus, Abu Hatim nearly doubts the very existence of Muhammad bin Abu Salih, according to the apparent sense of what his son related from him in Ilal. But he does recognize him in what his son related from him in Jarh wa Tadil, 3/2/252, affirming that he is Suhayl's brother. Bukhari also recognized him when he gave his biography in Tarikh al-Kabir, as we mentioned. Hushaym also narrated from him, as in Tahdhib, 9:157-158, where it also states that Abu Dawud mentioned him in the book of brothers, as did Abu Zura Dimashqi.Ibn Hibban included his aforementioned hadith in his Sahih [meaning this hadith], in the narration of Ibn Wahb from Haywa, with its isnad, and the Hafiz also said in Talkhis, p. 77, "Ibn Hibban graded both of them sahih," then said, "Abu Salih heard both of these reports from Ayesha and Abu Hurairah, both of them."As for Ibn Khuzayma, he favored the hadith of Abu Hurairah. It is stated in Tahdhib, "Ibn Khuzayma said in his Sahih, after including it from the narration of Amash, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurairah, 'Muhammad bin Abu Salih narrated it from his father, from Ayesha. And Amash has a better memory than two hundred like Muhammad bin Abu Salih!'"I myself favor what Ibn Hibban favored, that Abu Salih heard it from both Abu Hurairah and Ayesha. The narration of one narrator from his teacher does not contradict the narration of another from that same teacher unless the two clash or contradict each other, in which case we then resort to weighing by memory, by number, or by other criteria.An additional point supporting the overall soundness of the hadith is that two other companions also narrated it. Ahmad narrated it in the Musnad, 5:260, Halabi edition, from the hadith of Abu Umama Bahili, and Haythami attributed it in Majma al-Zawaid, 2:2, also to Tabarani in Kabir, saying, "Its narrators are all deemed trustworthy." Bayhaqi also narrated it in Sunan al-Kubra (1/432). Tabarani narrated it in Kabir, from the hadith of Wathila bin Asqa, as in Majma al-Zawaid (2:2), and he said, "It contains Janah, the freedman of Walid, whom Azdi declared daif, though Ibn Hibban mentioned him among the trustworthy narrators." This Janah appears in Kitab Thiqat, p. 157. Bukhari gave his biography in Tarikh al-Kabir, 1/2/244, and Ibn Abu Hatim in Jarh wa Tadil, 1/1/537, and neither of them mentioned any criticism of him. The Hafiz gave his biography in Lisan Mizan, 2:138-139, and reported no declaration of daif against him except from Azdi, and Azdi's declaration of daif is neither accepted nor authoritative.As for his saying "guarantor," Ibn Athir said, "By guarantee here he meant safeguarding and care, not the guarantee of financial liability, because he safeguards the people's prayer for them." It is also said that the prayer of those following him is his responsibility, and its validity is bound up with the validity of his own prayer, so he is like one who has taken on responsibility for the validity of their prayer.As for his saying "trusted," Ibn Athir said, "The one trusted by the people is the one they rely upon and take as a trustworthy custodian. It is said, the man was entrusted, so he is trusted, meaning that the muezzin is the people's trustee over their prayer and fasting."