Azami 270

Imam Ahmad narrated it (15743) from Abdul-Razzaq - and it is in his Musannaf (16814) - he said, Mamar narrated to us, from Zuhri, from Ubaydullah bin Abdullah, from a man from the Ansar, and he mentioned it.Ibn Khuzayma narrated it in Kitab Tawhid (223) through the route of Abdul-Razzaq. Malik narrated it in the chapter on manumission (9) from Ibn Shihab, from Ubaydullah bin Abdullah, as a mursal narration from the Prophet ﷺ.As for what was narrated through the route of Masudi, from Awn bin Abdullah, from his brother Ubaydullah bin Abdullah, from Abu Hurairah, who said, "A man came to the Prophet ﷺ with a non-Arab slave girl..." and he mentioned it, this is daif. Abu Dawud narrated it (3284) through the route of Yazid bin Harun, from Masudi. Through this same route it was narrated by Ahmad (7906), Ibn Khuzayma (220), and Bayhaqi (7/388).Masudi is Abdul-Rahman bin Abdullah bin Utba bin Masud, Kufi. Ibn Main and others considered him reliable, except that his memory became confused after he moved to Baghdad. So whoever heard from him in Kufa or Basra, their hearing from him is sound, and Abdul-Rahman bin Mahdi and Yazid bin Harun were among those who heard from him after his confusion had set in. Perhaps part of his confusion was that he described the slave girl as "non-Arab," which contradicts the sahih narrations, and that he attributed the hadith to the musnad of Abu Hurairah, while the reliable narrators attributed it to the musnad of a man from the Ansar.Similar in meaning is what was narrated from Ibn Abbas, who said, "A man came to the Prophet ﷺ with a black slave girl of his, and said, 'I owe the manumission of a slave' - I think he said 'a believing one' - 'so would this one suffice for me?' The Prophet said to her, "Where is Allah?" She pointed with her hand toward the sky. He said, "Who am I?" She said, "You are the Messenger of Allah." He ﷺ said, "Free her, for she is a believer.""In another version, it says, "A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, 'My mother owes the manumission of a slave, and I have a black slave girl.' The Prophet ﷺ said, "Bring her to me." The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to her, "Do you testify that there is no god but Allah, and that I am the Messenger of Allah?" She said, "Yes." He said, "Then free her.""The first narration was narrated by Bazzar - in Kashf Astar (37) - from Abu Kurayb, who said, Abu Muawiya narrated to us, from Saeed bin Marzuban, from Ikrima, from Ibn Abbas, and he mentioned it.Dhahabi said in his book Arsh (20), "Assal narrated it with a sahih chain from Abu Saad al-Baqqal, from Ikrima, from Ibn Abbas."I say, Abu Saad al-Baqqal is Saeed bin Marzuban, Absi, their freedman, Kufi, the one-eyed. Abu Zura said of him, "His hadith is weak." Bukhari said, "His hadith is objectionable." Nasai said, "Daif." Ibn Adi said, "He is among the weak narrators." And in Taqrib, it says, "Daif, one who conceals his sources."Was this hidden from Dhahabi, when he had given his biography in Mizan and quoted in it the statements of Bukhari, Ibn Adi, and others, and mentioned a number of his hadiths and judged them to be objectionable? Yet he said in his book Uluw (1/264), "This hadith is preserved from Abu Muawiya, but his teacher has been deemed daif." He means by this Saeed bin Marzuban.The second narration was also narrated by Bazzar - in Kashf Astar (13) - from Muhammad bin Uthman, who said, Ubaydullah narrated to us, who said, Ibn Abu Layla narrated to us, from Minhal bin Amr, from Saeed bin Jubayr, from Ibn Abbas, who said, and he mentioned the hadith.Haythami said in Majma (4/224), "Tabarani narrated it in Kabir and Awsat, and Bazzar, with two chains, the wording of one being similar to this, and in the other, he said to her, "Where is Allah?" and she pointed with her hand toward the sky. He said, "Who am I?" She said, "The Messenger of Allah." It contains Saeed bin Abu Saeed Marzuban, who is daif, conceals his sources, and uses ambiguous transmission wording. It also contains Muhammad bin Abu Layla, who has poor memory though he has been deemed reliable."Similar in meaning are other hadiths, none of which are free from being daif, having an unknown narrator, or having a break in the chain.Based on these hadiths, the scholars of the early generations stated that it is permissible to ask about Allah, exalted is He, using "where," and that it is permissible for the one being asked to say, "He is in the heaven." So whoever denies these two matters is only denying something from the Chosen One ﷺ, and indeed the scholars used to pass over these hadiths without subjecting them to allegorical interpretation or distortion.