Ahmad 7687

Its isnad is sahih. Abu Abdullah Ishaq is Madini, the freedman of Zaida, and he is a trustworthy successor (tabii). Ibn Abu Hatim said, "My father mentioned him, from Ishaq bin Mansur, from Yahya bin Main, who said, 'Ishaq, the freedman of Zaida, is trustworthy.'" Ibn Hibban gave him a biographical entry in Thiqat, p. 137. Ibn Saad also gave him an entry in Tabaqat, 5:225, saying, "Ishaq, the freedman of Zaida, heard from Saad bin Abu Waqqas and Abu Hurairah, and Abu Salih Samman, another freedman, and Bukayr bin Abdullah bin Ashaj narrated from him."Ibn Abu Hatim also gave him an entry, 1/1/238-239, saying, "Ishaq Abu Abdullah, the freedman of Zaida, narrated from Saad and Abu Hurairah..." Then he mentioned another entry right after it, saying, "Ishaq Madani narrated from Abu Hurairah, and his son Ubaydullah bin Ishaq narrated from him." Then he said, "I asked my father, 'Who is this Ishaq, the father of Ubaydullah bin Ishaq?' He said, 'I discussed this with Abu Zura, and I did not find that he knew him.' I said to him, 'It is possible that this is Ishaq Abu Abdullah, from whom Malik narrated, from Ala bin Abdul-Rahman, from his father, and Ishaq Abu Abdullah, from Abu Hurairah, from the Prophet ﷺ, that he said, "When the call to prayer is made, do not come to it running."' It seems, then, that he is a successor (tabii)."So both Abu Zura and Abu Hatim, along with his son, were uncertain about this Ishaq, whether he is one narrator or two narrators, both narrating from Abu Hurairah, though what is apparent from their words favors that he is one narrator. As for Bukhari, he stated definitively that he is one man, giving him an entry in Kabir, 1/1/396-397, "Ishaq Abu Abdullah, the freedman of Zaida, given the kunya Abu Abdullah by Ala bin Abdul-Rahman." So the one to whom Ala gave this kunya is the one to whose narration through Malik from Ala, Abu Hatim referred.There is an error in Ibn Abu Hatim's statement, which appears to me to be his own error, not that of the copyists. This is in his saying, "His son Ubaydullah bin Ishaq narrated from him," and in his saying to his father, "the father of Ubaydullah." There is no mention among the narrators whose biographies we have before us, nor in Ibn Abu Hatim's book, of this son Ubaydullah bin Ishaq, the freedman of Zaida. In fact, there is no Abdullah bin Ishaq, the freedman of Zaida, among them at all. I have concluded that the error is not from the copyists because the Hafiz quoted this statement of Ibn Abu Hatim in Lisan Mizan, 1:382, and then commented on it that Ishaq, the teacher of Ala, is mentioned in Tahdhib, and they did not mention any son who narrated from this Ishaq Abu Abdullah except his son Umar bin Ishaq, who has an entry in Tahdhib and has a single hadith from his father in Musnad 9286 and Sahih Muslim 1:82.In the biography of this Ishaq in Tahdhib, 1:258, and its derivative works, there occurs an error, which is perhaps an old error in the original text of Tahdhib. There it reads "Ishaq, the freedman of Zaida, is said to be Ishaq bin Abdullah Madani." Then it quoted Ibn Abu Hatim's statement that his son Ubaydullah narrated from him, but under the name Abdullah instead. This is one error compounding another. Then it quoted Abu Hatim's reference to Malik's hadith.As for Malik's hadith, it is found in Muwatta, p. 68-69, "Malik, from Ala bin Abdul-Rahman bin Yaqub, from his father, and Ishaq bin Abdullah, that both of them informed him that they heard Abu Hurairah say, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, 'When the call to prayer has been given...'" and so on. This wording in the Muwatta, "Ishaq bin Abdullah," is certainly an error by the copyists, for Ibn Abu Hatim's statement, quoted from his father, reads "and Ishaq Abu Abdullah." This is likewise confirmed in Tahdhib, in the biography of Ishaq, when it quoted Ibn Abu Hatim's statement. It is also confirmed correctly in Ibn Abdul-Barr's book Taqassi, 350, when he quoted this hadith of Malik's from the Muwatta.Complete confirmation of the correctness of what we have stated is that it is likewise established correctly in the sound manuscripts of the Muwatta, in the manuscript of Shaykh Abid Sindi that I possess. It appears that Suyuti was deceived by this error that occurred in some copies of the Muwatta, so he did not give an entry for this Ishaq Abu Abdullah in his Isaf Mubatta bi-Rijal Muwatta, perhaps thinking him to be Ishaq bin Abdullah bin Abu Talha, one of Malik's teachers. He therefore gave no entry for anyone else named Ishaq. As for Zurqani, he fell explicitly into the error, stating plainly in his commentary on the Muwatta, 1:126, in his explanation of that hadith, that he is Ishaq bin Abdullah bin Abu Talha, one of Malik's teachers, from whom he narrated here through an intermediary. This statement contains nothing of careful verification or documentation. May Allah have mercy on all of them.This hadith will come again in similar form at 9898, through the narration of Shuba, from Ala bin Abdul-Rahman, from his father, from Abu Hurairah. Its meaning will also come within a lengthy hadith at 10308, through the narration of Malik, from Ibn Hadi, from Muhammad bin Ibrahim Taymi, from Abu Salama, from Abu Hurairah. Ibn Hibban narrated it in his Sahih, splitting it into two separate hadiths. He narrated the first half at 4:369 [Ihsan manuscript], through the route of Abdul-Aziz Darawardi, from Ala, from his father, from Abu Hurairah, and he narrated the second half, "concerning every door..." and so on, at 4:773 [Ihsan manuscript], through the route of Rawh bin Qasim, from Ala, from his father, from Abu Hurairah. Some of its meanings have already appeared in other hadiths, including 7257, 7258, and 7572.