Fabricated Traditions: a Critical Assessment of Traditions On Classification of Caliphs and Their Excellences

Messenger of Allah dreams

The seventh fabricated tradition is narrated by AbuDawood.In hisSunan , he says: Umar bin Uthman narrated from Muhammad bin Harb from Zubaidi from Ibn Shahab from Amr bin Aban bin Uthman from Jabir bin Abdullah who quotes the Holy Propeht (s) as saying:

Tonight I saw a pious person in my dream. Abu Bakr held to the Messenger of Allah. Umar hang onto Abu Bakr and Uthman onto Umar.

Jabir says when I was leaving the Holy Prophet (s) alone I said to myself that that pious man was the Holy Prophet (s) himself and their hanging onto each other shows that Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman are supposed to carry out a mission Allah has ordered His Prophet to do.

After narrating this tradition, Abu Dawood says that Yunus and Shu'aib have also narrated this tradition, though they have not mentioned the name of Umar.[^47]

Hakim has narrated this tradition from Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Abdullah Saffar from Ahmad bin Mahdi bin Rustam from Musa bin Harun Bardi from Muhammad bin Harb from Zubaidi from Zuhri from 'Amr bin Aban bin Uthman bin Affan from Jabir bin Abdullah who quotes the Holy Propeht (s) as saying:

Tonight I saw a pious person in my dream. Abu Bakr held to the Messenger of Allah. Umar hang onto to Abu Bakr and Uthman to Umar.

Jabir says when I was leaving the Holy Prophet (s) I said to myself that that pious man was the Holy Prophet (s) himself and their hanging onto each other shows that Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman are supposed to carry out a mission Allah has ordered His Prophet to do.

According to Hakim this traditionbeing also reported by Abu Huraira, is authentic though Muslim and Bukhari have not narrated it.[^48]

Evaluation of tradition

In hisTalkhis, Dahabi deals with this tradition as an authentic one, though Hakim seems skeptic about it. He narrates this tradition, using another chain, from Uthman bin Sa'eed Darmi, from Muhammad bin Harb from Sa'eed bin Abdullah Jarjisi from Zubaidi from Zuhrifrom 'Amr bin Aban bin Uthman from Jabir. Thereupon he says: according to Darmi Yahya bin Mu'aeen believes that the chain of this tradition contains Muhammad bin Harb from whom and Zuhri people narrate mursal traditions. The chain of this tradition includes 'Amr bin Aban whereas Aban bin Uthaman did not have a son named 'Amr.[^49] Dahabi looks eye to eye with Hakim in this regard.

In order to reject this tradition, we do not need to study the faults Yaqut Hamavi has found in hisMu'ajam al-Buldan concerning Muhammad bin Harb and Muhammad bin Walid Zubaidi. According to him, they were from Hams and were known for their hostility toward Ali (a.s). According to the author ofTahdib al-Tahdib they were among the judges of the oppressive government of their time in Egypt. Ibn Shahab Zuhri was among the well-known opponents of Ali (a.s). All these objections aside, to reject this tradition we suffice to what Abu Dawood and Yahya bin Mu'aeen have said.

It has to be pinpointed that nothing came to our mind to iron out the apparent contradiction that exists between Hakim and Zahabi's words.