Ahmad 7352

Its chain of transmission is sahih, apart from an error that occurred in the copies of the Musnad in the chain, as will be explained. Ziyad bin Saad: his reliability was established earlier at 5893. In S it appears as "Ziyad bin Abu Saad," which is an error. Hilal bin Abu Maymuna al-Madani: his reliability was established earlier at 6622, and we add here that he is Hilal bin Ali bin Usama, and some attribute him to his grandfather, calling him Hilal bin Usama, as in Malik's narration from him in Muwatta 776-777, in another hadith, and likewise Shafii's narration in al-Risala 242 from Malik. He was a trustworthy tabii who narrated from Anas bin Malik.Bukhari gave his biography in al-Kabir 4/2/204-205, saying, "Hilal bin Abu Maymuna, who is Hilal bin Ali." Malik bin Anas said, "Hilal bin Usama heard from Anas and Ata bin Yasar." And Usama said, "from Hilal bin Usama al-Fihri." Ibn Hibban gave his biography in al-Thiqat, p. 364, saying, "Hilal bin Maymuna, and the name of his father Abu Maymuna was Usama al-Fihri, and he is the one called Hilal bin Ali al-Amiri. It has also been said that the name of his father Abu Maymuna was Usama. He narrates from Anas bin Malik, and he was a narrator for Ata bin Yasar. Yahya bin Kathir narrated from him, and he is the one from whom Fulayh narrates, calling him Hilal bin Ali. He died at the end of the governorship of Hisham bin Abdul-Malik."Now, in the four original manuscripts here, including the old copy S, the chain appears as "from Hilal bin Abu Maymuna, from Abu Hurairah," without mentioning the intermediary between them. This is definitely an error, not an abridgment by one of the narrators in the chain, as is sometimes said of certain narrations, and the evidence for this is abundant. For this reason we have added, between the two marks indicating an addition, the words "[from Abu Maymuna]" in the chain. It is also the case that in the margin of L, at this spot, there appears an addition reading "from his father," with "correct" written above it, but this too is an error, whether it originated as an addition or came from the original source it was copied from.For all the other reliable narrators who transmitted this hadith from Sufyan bin Uyayna, namely Shafii in al-Umm and as found in Bayhaqi, Nasr bin Ali as found in Tirmidhi, Hisham bin Ammar as found in Ibn Majah, and Zuhayr bin Harb as found in Ibn Hazm's al-Muhalla, all narrated it from Sufyan bin Uyayna, from Ziyad bin Saad, from Hilal bin Abu Maymuna, from Abu Maymuna, from Abu Hurairah. None of them differed from this except Harun bin Maruf as found in Bayhaqi, who narrated it from Sufyan, from Ziyad, from Hilal bin Abu Maymuna, from his father, from Abu Hurairah. This is an anomalous, mistaken narration, and the mistake in it is probably from Harun bin Maruf himself or from one of the narrators who transmitted from him.In order to clarify this error in his statement "from his father," and that other error of omitting "from Abu Maymuna," we will first give the biography of Abu Maymuna, then mention the sourcing of the hadith second, and then point to some of the references in which the mistake of omitting "from Abu Maymuna" occurred, a printing error, Allah willing.As for Abu Maymuna, Bukhari gave his biography in al-Kabir 2/2/130, saying, "Sulaym Abu Maymuna, who used to sell wool. I think he was al-Farsi. He heard from Abu Hurairah, and Hilal bin Abu Maymuna narrated from him. He is also said to be called Salman." Ibn Abu Hatim said in 2/1/212, "Sulaym Abu Maymuna, also said to be Salman Abu Maymuna. He narrated from Abu Hurairah, and Hilal bin Abu Maymuna and Abu Nadr narrated from him."There is also Abu Maymuna al-Abbar, who likewise narrates from Abu Hurairah, and Qatada narrated from him. Despite this, the two are mentioned together in a single biography in al-Tahdhib, where the Hafiz comments on Mizzi, saying that Bukhari, Abu Hatim, Muslim, and Hakim Abu Ahmad distinguished between Abu Maymuna al-Abbar, who narrated from Abu Hurairah and from whom Qatada narrated, and Abu Maymuna al-Farsi, whose name was Sulaym, from whom Abu Nadr and others narrated. In Abu Dawud it appears that his name was Salma. Daraqutni said, "Abu Maymuna, who narrated from Abu Hurairah and from whom Qatada narrated, is unknown and should be disregarded." This supports the view that he is different from al-Farsi, since Daraqutni affirmed al-Farsi's reliability in his book.So Abu Maymuna, the narrator of this hadith, was a trustworthy tabii. Some have been confused and mistaken about this matter, imagining that this Abu Maymuna is the father of Hilal bin Abu Maymuna. This is an error. In al-Tahdhib it states that Ibn Uyayna said, "from Ziyad bin Saad, from Hilal bin Abu Maymuna, from Abu Maymuna, and he is not his father, from Abu Hurairah."Among those who made this mistake, and whose mistake was particularly severe, was the Hafiz Ibn Hibban. He gave the biography of Hilal bin Abu Maymuna in al-Thiqat, with what we have just quoted from him, which indicates that Abu Maymuna, the father of Hilal, is different from the Abu Maymuna who was Hilal's teacher in this hadith. Yet he conflated the two in the biography of Abu Maymuna in al-Thiqat, p. 211, saying, "Sulaym Abu Maymuna al-Farsi, the father of Hilal bin Abu Maymuna, narrates from Abu Hurairah, and Abu Nadr, the freedman of Umar bin Ubaydullah, and his son Hilal bin Abu Maymuna narrated from him." This is baseless, it is simply confusion.For this reason we added to the chain "[from Abu Maymuna]," since Hilal narrated this hadith only from him, and we did not restore instead the addition found in the margin of L, "[from his father]," as a correction, since we were certain that it was a slip by one of the copyists, given what is stated explicitly in al-Tahdhib that Sufyan bin Uyayna's narration, Ahmad's teacher here, from Ziyad bin Saad, from Hilal bin Abu Maymuna, was from Abu Maymuna, and not from his father. So Sufyan did not err, nor was the chain unclear to him, rather he explicitly stated that the narrator of the hadith was not the father of Hilal. All the reliable narrators from Sufyan are unanimous on this, except for one narrator, in whose narration there was a lapse, either from him or from those who narrated from him, as we have already said.The hadith was narrated by Shafii in al-Umm 5:82, where he said, "Ibn Uyayna informed us, from Ziyad bin Saad, from Hilal bin Abu Maymuna, from Abu Maymuna, from Abu Hurairah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave a boy the choice between his father and his mother." This is the same hadith, but in abbreviated wording. Bayhaqi likewise narrated it in Sunan al-Kubra 8:3, by way of Shafii. Tirmidhi likewise narrated it, 2:286, from Nasr bin Ali, from Sufyan, with this chain and wording, and he said, "This is a hasan sahih hadith." Tirmidhi also stated explicitly the distinction between Abu Maymuna the father of Hilal and his teacher, saying, "Abu Maymuna's name was Sulaym." Then he said, "Hilal bin Abu Maymuna is Hilal bin Ali bin Usama, a Madani, from whom Yahya bin Abu Kathir, Malik bin Anas, and Fulayh bin Sulayman narrated."Ibn Hazm likewise narrated it in al-Muhalla 10:321, with his chain going to Zuhayr bin Harb, from Sufyan bin Uyayna, with this chain and wording. Ibn Majah likewise narrated it, 2351, from Hisham bin Ammar, from Sufyan bin Uyayna, with this chain, with the wording, "that the Prophet ﷺ gave a boy the choice between his father and his mother, saying, 'O boy, this is your mother and this is your father.'" This wording of Ibn Majah is the closest of all the wordings to Ahmad's narration here.As for the anomalous narration, that of Harun bin Maruf, Bayhaqi narrated it, 8:3, by way of Abu Yaala al-Mawsili, "Harun bin Maruf told us, Sufyan bin Uyayna told us, from Ziyad bin Saad, from Hilal bin Abu Maymuna, from his father, from Abu Hurairah." So Harun bin Maruf, or one of the narrators in the chain leading to him, made a slip in saying "from his father," given the unanimous agreement of all the other reliable narrators who transmitted it from Sufyan on saying "from Abu Maymuna," and given Sufyan's own explicit statement, in the narration transmitted from him by the author of al-Tahdhib, that he was not his father.The hadith was also narrated by Ibn Jurayj at greater length, as part of a longer account, from Ziyad bin Saad, from Hilal bin Usama, who is Hilal bin Abu Maymuna, as we mentioned earlier, that Abu Maymuna, Salma, a freedman from the people of Madinah, a truthful man, then he related it at length, from Abu Hurairah.Abu Dawud narrated it, 2277 [2:251 of Awn al-Mabud], by way of Abdul-Razzaq and Abu Asim, and Darimi, 2:170, from Abu Asim, and Bayhaqi, 8:3, by way of Abu Asim, and also by way of Abu Dawud, with his chain going to Abdul-Razzaq and Abu Asim, and Nasai, 2:109, by way of Khalid bin Harith, and Hakim in al-Mustadrak, 4:97, by way of Abdullah bin Mubarak, all of them from Ibn Jurayj, in this manner. Hakim said, "This is a hadith sahih in its chain, and the two of them (Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it." Dhahabi agreed with him. In some of their narrations Abu Maymuna's name is given as Sulayman, and in others as Sulaym.Zaylai said in Nasb Raya 3:269, after pointing to the narration of Abu Dawud and Hakim, "Ibn Qattan said in his book, 'This hadith is narrated by Hilal bin Usama, from Abu Maymuna, Salma, a freedman from the people of Madinah, a truthful man, from Abu Hurairah. This Abu Maymuna is not unknown, for Hilal bin Usama gave him the kunya Abu Maymuna, named him Salma, mentioned that he was a freedman from the people of Madinah, and described him as a truthful man. This much is sufficient regarding a narrator, until the contrary is shown. Furthermore, Abu Nadr also narrated from this Abu Maymuna, as stated by Abu Hatim, and Yahya bin Abu Kathir narrated from him this very same hadith, as Ibn Abu Shayba narrated it in his Musnad, 'Waki told us, from Ali bin Mubarak, from Yahya bin Abu Kathir, from Abu Maymuna, from Abu Hurairah, who said, "A woman came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ after her husband had divorced her, and he wanted to take her son. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, 'Draw lots for him,' then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to the boy, 'Choose whichever of them you wish.' He chose his mother, and she took him away.'" End of quote. He said, "From this comes the soundness and correctness of the hadith." End of quote.This narration of Ibn Abu Shayba from Waki, which Ibn Qattan mentioned, was also transmitted by Ibn Hazm in al-Muhalla 10:326-327, from Ibn Abu Shayba. Ahmad likewise narrated it in the Musnad, 9770, from Waki, with this same chain, with slightly longer wording. Bayhaqi likewise narrated it in Sunan al-Kubra 8:3 with two chains, by way of Saadan bin Nasr, from Waki bin Jarra.Among the reputable references in which the error occurred in the chain of this hadith is Zad Mad by Ibn Qayyim, for he mentioned it at 4:263 from the narration of Zuhayr bin Harb, without mentioning "from Abu Maymuna" in it. This is certainly a copyist's or printer's error, for this narration was transmitted by Ibn Qayyim from al-Muhalla of Ibn Hazm, and Ibn Hazm's narration includes "from Abu Maymuna."The error also occurred in Shafii's Musnad, arranged by Shaykh Muhammad Abid al-Sindi, which was recently printed in Egypt in the year 1951 of the Christian calendar, corrected by a man claiming affiliation to the scholars of al-Azhar, though they are innocent of him, named Yusuf Ali al-Zawawi, who is a cursed English spy, whose true nature was exposed in Egypt, so he fled from it last year to his English masters. The chain of the hadith in this book, pages 62-63, appears as follows, "Ibn Uyayna informed us, from Ziyad bin Saad." Abu Muhammad said, "I think it is Hilal bin Abu Maymuna, from Abu Hurairah!" This ignorant spy failed to realize that Ziyad bin Saad is different from Hilal bin Abu Maymuna, rather he is his student, so he dropped the word "from" after the phrase "I think it," and then misunderstood the source of the chain, thereby omitting "from Abu Maymuna" from it. He compounded his ignorance further by vocalizing the lam in Hilal with a raf marker!The correct form of this chain is the one found in al-Umm, but the narration in Shafii's Musnad has as its origin the narration of Abu Abbas al-Asamm, from Abu Muhammad bin Rabi bin Sulayman. When the chain appeared in the book al-Umm, Rabi did not hesitate over it or doubt it. In my view, it is more likely that he doubted it when he related it again from memory, saying, "I think it is from Hilal bin Abu Maymuna," but he still recorded in it the addition "from Abu Maymuna" correctly. So the error is not in his omission from the narration in Shafii's Musnad, but rather, in all likelihood, from the printer.The narration of al-Asamm, found in Shafii's Musnad, is the same one narrated by Bayhaqi, 3, by his route, "Rabi informed us, Shafii informed us, Ibn Uyayna informed us, from Ziyad bin Saad." Abu Muhammad, that is, Rabi, said, "I think it is from Hilal bin Abu Maymuna, from Abu Maymuna, from Abu Hurairah..." in its correct form.See also, on the subject of child custody, what has already passed in the Musnad of Abdullah bin Amr, 6707.