Ahmad 7989

Its isnad is sahih. Tabari narrated it in his tafsir, no. 7, reporting from Khallad bin Aslam, from Anas bin Iyad - Ahmad's teacher here - through this isnad, and it contains, as in this narration, "I only know it from Abu Hurairah."Ibn Hibban narrated it in his Sahih, no. 73 in our edition, from Ahmad bin Ali bin Muthanna - who is the hadith master Abu Yaala Mawsili - from Abu Khaythama, from Anas bin Iyad, with the same wording. In it, "from Abu Hurairah," without the doubt expressed in his saying "I only know it..." However, the narration of Abu Yaala in his Musnad, which Ibn Kathir transmitted in his tafsir, 2:102, contains "I only know it from Abu Hurairah."Khatib narrated it in Tarikh Baghdad, 11:26, through the route of Abdul-Wahhab Warraq, from Abu Damra - who is Anas bin Iyad - with the same wording. In it, "I do not know it except from Abu Hurairah." Ibn Kathir transmitted this hadith from the narration of the Musnad here, in the chapter on the virtues of the Quran, p. 30, and said afterward, "Nasai narrated it from Qutayba, from Abu Damra Anas bin Iyad, with the same wording." It appears that Nasai narrated it in the chapter on tafsir, since it is not found in his Sunan Mujtaba. Haythami transmitted it in Majma al-Zawaid, 151, along with another narration from Ahmad, and mentioned that he narrated it with two isnads, the men of one of which are the men of the Sahih. This is a reference to this very isnad.Suyuti transmitted it in Durr Manthur, 6:2, and attributed it to Ibn Jareer and to Nasr Maqdisi in Hujjah only. This doubt, about whether it is from Abu Hurairah, comes only from Anas bin Iyad alone. For the hadith, in both its parts, is established through the narration of Abu Salama from Abu Hurairah, by more than one route, without this doubt.But it is established as two separate hadiths. The hadith of the seven modes will come slightly longer than this, at 8372 and 9676, and the hadith of disputation or arguing about the Quran has already appeared at 7499 and 7835, and will come at 9474, 10148, 10205, 10419, 10546, and 10846. See also what has already appeared in the Musnad of Ibn Masud, 4252 and 4364. See also Sunan Abu Dawud, 4603, and Mustadrak, 2:223.Ibn Athir said, "Mira means disputation, and tamari and mumaraah mean arguing in a manner of doubt and suspicion. Debate is called mumaraah because each party draws out what the other has and extracts it, just as the milker extracts milk from the udder."Abu Ubayd said, "In our view, the meaning of the hadith is not about disagreement in interpretation, but about disagreement in wording. That is, a man recites according to one mode, and the other says, 'It is not like that, rather it is the opposite,' while both are revealed and recited forms. If each of them denies the recitation of the other, it cannot be assured that this would not lead him to disbelief, because he has denied a mode that Allah revealed to His Prophet. The use of the indefinite form of the word mira signals that some of it constitutes disbelief, let alone what exceeds that."And it was said, "This applies only to disputation and arguing about verses that mention predestination and similar meanings, following the approach of the theologians and the people of desires and opinions, not to what these verses contain regarding rulings and matters of the lawful and unlawful. For that occurred among the companions and the scholars who came after them, in cases where the purpose and motive behind it was to make the truth clear so that it could be followed, rather than to overpower or disable one's opponent."