Azami 298

Bazzar narrated it in Kashf Astar (1596), and Bayhaqi in Asma wal-Sifat (860), both through Saeed bin Sulayman, from Mansur bin Abu Aswad, "Ata bin Saaib narrated to us, from Muharib bin Dithar, from Ibn Burayda (that is, Sulayman), from his father Burayda bin Husayb," who said, then he mentioned it. Bazzar said, "We do not know of any route for this from Burayda other than this one, Mansur narrated it alone."I say, it is not as he said, for Amr bin Abu Qays narrated it from Ata bin Saaib, and Ibn Abu Asim narrated it through this route in Sunnah (582). But the chain contains Ata bin Saaib, whose memory became confused later in life, and neither Mansur bin Abu Aswad nor Amr bin Abu Qays are among those who heard from him before this confusion set in. However, corroborating evidence confirms that Ata bin Saaib was not confused in narrating this hadith, and for this reason Ibn Hajar and others graded it hasan.The elevated portion has a corroborating witness in the hadith of Abu Sufyan bin Harith bin Abdul-Muttalib, from the Prophet , who said, "Allah does not sanctify a nation in which the weak cannot obtain their right from the strong without being hindered." Al-Hakim narrated it in Mustadrak (3/256), but it contains an unnamed shaykh. Al-Hakim said, "Ghundar (Muhammad bin Jafar) named him, but he did not mention Abu Sufyan in the chain." End of quote. I say, it is therefore either an interrupted chain or one missing the link to the Companion.As for what was narrated from Abu Hurairah, that the Prophet took my hand and said, "O Abu Hurairah, Allah created the heavens and the earths and what is between them in six days, then rose over the Throne on the seventh day. He created the soil on Saturday, the mountains on Sunday, the trees on Monday, the misfortunes on Tuesday, the light on Wednesday, the animals on Thursday, and Adam on Friday in the last hour of the day after Asr. He created the surface of the earth, its red and its black, its good and its bad, and because of this Allah made from Adam both the good and the bad." This is a solitary report.Nasai narrated it in Sunan al-Kubra (11328), in Surah Sajdah, from Ibrahim bin Yaqub, who said, "Muhammad bin Sabbah narrated to me," who said, "Abu Ubayd Haddad narrated to us," who said, "Akhdar bin Ajlan narrated to us, from Ibn Jurayj Makki, from Ata, from Abu Hurairah," and he mentioned it. Dhahabi mentioned it in Uluww (205), from Nasai, and said, "Akhdar was declared trustworthy by Ibn Main, and Abu Hatim said, 'His hadith is written down,' while Azdi considered him weak. His hadith appears in the four Sunan collections. This hadith is one of his solitary narrations." End of quote.I say, it is as he said. Nasai also declared him trustworthy, and Ibn Hibban mentioned him in Thiqat (4/63).Its text is corroborated by what Muslim narrated in his Sahih, in the chapter on the characteristics of the hypocrites (2789), through several routes from Hajjaj bin Muhammad, who said, Ibn Jurayj said, "Ismail bin Umaya informed me, from Ayub bin Khalid, from Abdullah bin Rafi, the freed slave of Umm Salama, from Abu Hurairah," who said, "The Messenger of Allah took my hand and said, 'Allah created the soil on Saturday, and created the mountains in it on Sunday, and created the trees on Monday, and created the disliked things on Tuesday, and created the light on Wednesday, and scattered the animals throughout it on Thursday, and created Adam after Asr on Friday, at the very end of creation, in the last hour of the hours of Friday, between Asr and nightfall.'" Imam Ahmad also narrated it through this same route (8341).Scholars criticized Muslim for including this hadith in his Sahih, because it contradicts the explicit text of the Quran, since Allah says, "in six days" [Araf 7:54, Yunus 10:3, Hud 11:7, Furqan 25:59, Sajdah 32:4, Qaf 50:38, Hadid 57:4]. It has been established that the last of creation was on Friday, which requires that the first of creation be on Sunday. Had the first of creation been on Saturday and the last on Friday, creation would have taken seven days, which contradicts what the Quran states. See Majmu Fatawa Shaykh al-Islam (17/235), (18/18–19).Ibn Kathir said in his Tafsir, after quoting the hadith through Muslim's route, "This hadith is among the rare reports of Sahih Muslim. Ibn Madini, Bukhari, and more than one of the hadith masters have discussed it, and they considered it to be the words of Kaab, saying that Abu Hurairah had only heard it as a statement of Kaab Ahbar, and that some narrators became confused and attributed it directly to the Prophet." He also said, "It encompasses all seven days, while Allah Almighty says, "in six days", and for this reason Bukhari and more than one of the hadith masters criticized this hadith, and they considered it a narration of Abu Hurairah from Kaab Ahbar, not one attributed to the Prophet."I say, this is what Bukhari mentioned in Tarikh al-Kabir (1/413–414), through the route of Ismail bin Umaya, with the same chain, and he then said, "Some said it is from Abu Hurairah, from Kaab, which is more sahih."Bayhaqi narrated it in Asma wal-Sifat (812) through Muslim's route, and said, Ibn Madini said, "I do not think Ismail bin Umaya took this from anyone but Ibrahim bin Abu Yahya." I say (meaning Bayhaqi), Musa bin Ubayda Rabadhi corroborated him on that, from Ayub bin Khalid, except that Musa bin Ubayda is daif. It was also narrated from Bakr bin Sharud, from Ibrahim bin Abu Yahya, from Safwan bin Salim, from Ayub bin Khalid, but its chain is daif.Some scholars hold that this hadith refers to the ordering of the earth, not its creation, but this view conflicts with Allah's statement in Surah Fussilat, "Say, 'Do you indeed disbelieve in He who created the earth in two days and attribute to Him equals? That is the Lord of the worlds. And He placed on it firmly set mountains over its surface, and He blessed it and determined therein its sustenance in four days, equal for those who ask.'" [Fussilat 41:9–10]So He made the ordering of the earth, together with its creation, take four days, Sunday and Monday for the creation of the earth, and Tuesday and Wednesday for its ordering. Then He said, "So He completed them as seven heavens in two days..." [Fussilat 41:12], meaning the remaining two of the six days, namely Thursday and Friday. Thus, the creation of the heavens and the earth and what is in them was completed in six days, as the Quran explicitly states in several verses in the Book of Allah.A point of benefit, regarding the scholars' statement that "this hadith is the speech of Kaab Ahbar, and some narrators turned it into a report attributed to the Prophet," I find it unlikely that this could be the speech of Kaab Ahbar, because he was a Jew before he embraced Islam, and the Jews do not permit work on Saturday. Rather, they say, as found in the existing Torah, that Allah rested on the seventh day after creation, Genesis 2:3, which is a false claim that the Quran refutes, "And We did certainly create the heavens and earth and what is between them in six days, and there touched Us no weariness" [Qaf 50:38].It appears, then, that the error in this hadith comes from one of the narrators, namely Ayub bin Khalid bin Safwan bin Aws bin Jabir Ansari. More than one scholar has criticized him. Azdi said, "His hadith is not up to standard," and Yahya bin Saeed and his peers would not write down his hadith, and Ibn Hajar considered him weak. So I attribute the error in this hadith to him, for he erred in saying, "Allah created the soil on Saturday." For this reason, the discerning scholars criticized Muslim for including it, because what is firmly established as sahih is that Allah created the heavens and the earth and what is between them in six days, and that the last of creation was on Friday, which necessitates that the first of creation was on Sunday, not Saturday, as already mentioned.