Hadith Al-Thaqalayn, the Deposed Will of the Last Prophet to Humanity

7. Hadith Al-Thaqalayn: The Prophet At Unindentified Places ===========================================================

There are reports of Hadith al-Thaqalayn which do not name the locations where it was delivered. It is therefore possible that the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alaihi wa alihi, also uttered them at Ghadir Khumm, in addition to his other pronouncements. Meanwhile, it is equally probable that the sermons were given at other places, before or after Ghadir Khumm. Let us start with this riwayah by Imam al-Fasawi (d. 277 H):

Yahya – Jarir - al-Hasan b. ‘Ubayd Allah – Abu al-Dhuha – Zayd b. Arqam:

The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: “I am leaving behind over you that which if you adhere to it you will never go astray: the Book of Allah the Almighty and my offspring, my Ahl al-Bayt. Verily, both shall never separate from each other until they meet me at the Lake-Fount.”[^1]

Al-Hafiz (d. 852 H) states concerning the first narrator:

Yahya b. Yahya b. Bukayr b. ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Tamimi, Abu Zakariyyah al-Naysaburi: Thiqah (trustworthy), thabt (accurate), an Imam.[^2]

What about the second narrator? Al-Hafiz submits:

Jarir b. ‘Abd al-Hamid b. Qurt al-Dhabi al-Kufi, a resident of al-Rayy and its judge: Thiqah (trustworthy).[^3]

The third narrator is thiqah (trustworthy) as well, according to al-Hafiz:

Al-Hasan b. ‘Ubayd Allah b. ‘Urwah al-Nakha’i, Abu ‘Urwah al-Kufi: Thiqah (trustworthy), fadhil (virtuous).[^4]

And the last narrator is like that too, as affirmed by al-Hafiz:

Muslim b. Subayh al-Hamdani, Abu al-Dhuha al-Kufi al-‘Attar, well-known with his kunya: Thiqah (trustworthy), fadhil (virtuous).[^5]

All the narrators are thiqah (trustworthy), and the chain is fully connected. So, it is an absolutely sahih chain!

Meanwhile, Imam al-Tirmidhi (d. 279 H) has also recorded a shahid for it:

‘Ali b. al-Mundhir Kufi – Muhammad b. Fudhayl – al-A’mash – ‘Atiyyah – Abu Sa’id (al-Khudri): AND al-‘Amash – Habib b. Abi Thabit – Zayd b. Arqam, may Allah be pleased with them both:

The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said, “I am leaving behind over you that which if you adhere to it you will never go astray after me. One of them is greater than the other: the Book of Allah - a rope stretching from the heaven to the earth - and my offspring, my Ahl al-Bayt. Both shall never separate from each other until they meet me at the Lake-Fount. Therefore, watch carefully how you treat them after me.”[^6]

Al-Tirmidhi says:

And this hadith is hasan gharib (i.e. has a hasan chain).^7

And ‘Allamah al-Albani (d. 1420 H) states:

Sahih^8

Sayyid Hasan al-Saqqaf also has this comment:

ورواه الترمذي 663/5) برقم (3788 بسند صحيح بلفظ إني تارك فيكم ما إن

Al-Tirmidhi (5/663, # 3788) recorded it WITH A SAHIH CHAIN, with this wording:

“I am leaving behind over you that which if you adhere to it you will never go astray after me. One of them is greater than the other: the Book of Allah - a rope stretching from the heaven to the earth - and my offspring, my Ahl al-Bayt. Both shall never separate from each other until they meet me at the Lake-Fount. Therefore, watch carefully how you treat them after me.”[^9]

Imam Ahmad (d. 241 H) further documents:

‘Abd Allah (b. Ahmad) – my father (Ahmad b. Hanbal) – Ibn Numayr – ‘Abd al-Malik b. Abi Sulayman – ‘Atiyyah al-‘Awfi – Abu Sa’id al-Khudri:

The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: “I have left behind over you that which if you hold fast to it you will never go astray after me: the Two Weighty Things (al-thaqalayn). One of them both is greater than the other: the Book of Allah - a rope stretching from the heaven to the earth – and my offspring, my Ahl al-Bayt. Take note: verily, both shall never separate from each other until they meet me at the Lake-Fount.”[^10]
Shaykh al-Arnaut comments:

It is a sahih hadith, with the exception of the statement “And, verily, both shall never separate from each other until they meet me at the Lake-Fount”.^11

Apparently, al-Arnaut rejects the authenticity of the last phrase of the hadith, and accepts all the others. But, this is strange, indeed! We have already quoted absolutely sahih chains – in the reports of Zayd b. Arqam – in this book which establish the authenticity of that phrase. Shaykh al-Arnaut apparently rushed to his conclusion without adequate research. Besides, the chain of this last riwayah above is reliable as well, as ‘Allamah al-Albani declares, after quoting that exact same report from Musnad Ahmad:

And it is a chain that is hasan through the shawahid (corroborating evidences).[^12]

Interestingly, this is what al-Arnaut himself says about the same hadith of ‘Atiyyah above from the same Abu Sa’id al-Khudri, with the same chain, in another book:

Its chain is hasan through the shawahid.[^13]

So, indeed, all the parts of the hadith are firmly established through this sanad and the sahih others.

[^1]: Abu Yusuf Ya’qub b. Sufyan al-Fasawi, al-Ma’rifah wa al-Tarikh (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah) [annotator: Khalil al-Mansur], vol. 1, p. 294

[^2]: Ahmad b. ‘Ali b. Hajar al-‘Asqalani, Taqrib al-Tahdhib (Beirut: Dar al-Maktabah al-‘Ilmiyyah; 2nd edition, 1415 H) [annotator: Mustafa ‘Abd al-Qadir ‘Ata], vol. 2, p. 318, # 7696

[^3]: Ahmad b. ‘Ali b. Hajar al-‘Asqalani, Taqrib al-Tahdhib (Beirut: Dar al-Maktabah al-‘Ilmiyyah; 2nd edition, 1415 H) [annotator: Mustafa ‘Abd al-Qadir ‘Ata], vol. 1, p. 158, # 918. We have already mentioned his trustworthiness previously in this book.

[^4]: Ahmad b. ‘Ali b. Hajar al-‘Asqalani, Taqrib al-Tahdhib (Beirut: Dar al-Maktabah al-‘Ilmiyyah; 2nd edition, 1415 H) [annotator: Mustafa ‘Abd al-Qadir ‘Ata], vol. 1, p. 158, # 918, vol. 1, p. 206, # 1258

[^5]: Ibid, vol. 2, p. 179, # 6653

[^6]: Abu ‘Isa Muhammad b. ‘Isa al-Sulami al-Tirmidhi, al-Jami’ al-Sahih Sunan al-Tirmidhi (Beirut: Dar Ihya al-Turath al-‘Arabi) [annotator: Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani], vol. 5, p. 663 # 3788

[^9]: Hasan b. ‘Ali al-Saqqaf al-Qurashi al-Hashimi al-Husayni, Sahih Sharh al-‘Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah (Amman: Dar Imam al-Nawawi; 1st edition, 1416 H), p. 654

[^10]: Abu ‘Abd Allah Ahmad b. Hanbal al-Shaybani, Musnad (Cairo: Muasassat Qurtubah) [annotator: Shu’ayb al-Arnaut], vol. 3, p. 59, # 11578

[^12]: Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman Muhammad Nasir al-Din b. al-Hajj Nuh b. Tajati b. Adam al-Ashqudri al-Albani, Silsilah al-Ahadith al-Sahihah wa Shayhun min Fiqhihah wa Fawaidihah (Riyadh: Maktabah al-Ma’arif li al-Nashr wa al-Tawzi’; 1st edition, 1415 H), vol. 4, p. 357, # 1761

[^13]: Muhammad b. Ibrahim al-Wazir al-Yamani, al-‘Awasim wa al-Qawasim fi al-Dhabb ‘an Sunnah Abi al-Qasim (Beirut: Muasassat al-Risalah; 2nd edition, 1416 H) [annotator: Shu’ayb al-Arnaut], vol. 1, p. 178, footnote # 1