Light On the Muhammadan Sunnah Or Defence of the Hadith
Muslim and His Book
His name is Abu al-Husayn Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj al-Qushayri al-Nisaburi. He was born in Nisabur in the year 204 H, and dead in it in 268 H. He has reviewed the Sihah but not interferred in istinbat (deriving of rules) and alike matters. He excelled al-Bukhari in collecting the turuq (means of transmission) and good arrangement. Besides, his book is easily availed of, as he dedicated for every hadith a proper place in which he stated the means he approved of, citing its numerous asanid and various wordings. Also he – contrary to al-Bukhari – was not narrating on the basis of meaning, nor commingling with the traditions any words of the Companions or their followers. And – as Ibn Hajar said in Muqaddimat al-Fath – was characterized with compiling his book in his hometown with existence of its sources in the lifetime of many of chiefs (mashayikh) of hadith, the reason why he was so careful in choosing the words and accurate in the context of hadith. Further he has never followed the same method of al-Bukhari in deducing the rules, on the basis of which he was to classify the traditions, the fact entailing dividing of the hadith according to its chapters (babs), but he brought together all the turuq in one place, abstaining from reporting the mawquf traditions, not referring to them but very rarely, out of imitation not determination. 583
It is reported that he compiled his Musnad out of three hundred thousand commonly heard traditions, while the number of traditions constituting his book was four thousand except the repeated ones.
In Sharh Muslim al-Nawawi writes: The Muslim’s statement: “Whatever I stated here – in his book – is not necessarily correct, but I put
here whatever attained the unanimous agreement of all,” is quite dubious, as he cited in it many traditions regarding the veracity of which there was much disagreement since they were taken from unreliable narrators whose traditions were not unanimously accepted. And so also said Ibn al-Salah.
Ibn Taymiyyah, in his interpretation of Surat al-Tawhid, says: The hadith reported by Muslim about creation of earth (turbah) on Saturday 584 is a defective hadith, traduced by leaders of hadith like al-Bukhari and others holding that it was taken from Ka’b al-Ahbar. Muslim has reported similar traditions that were known to be incorrect, like the saying of Abu Sufyan when embracing Islam (?): I want to marry you Umm Habibah (i.e. his daughter); while all people know that the Prophet got married to her before Abu Sufyan’s embracing Islam. Also like the hadith on salat al-kusuf (eclipse prayers), in which he claimed that the Prophet performed it with three kneelings (ruku’), while the right thing was that he had performed it only once with two ruku’s. 585
Muslim’s traditions that were suspected and criticized amounted to 132 ones, and number of his rijal (transmitters of his traditions) reached to 110 ones.
Abu Zar’ah al-Razi 586 – whose name is cited in Sahih Muslim – says: These are people who intended to make early progress, so they made something with which they wanted to trade, inventing that which couldn’t occur to the mind so as to precede others in attaining undue high rank.
One day some man brought him Sahih Muslim, into which he looked, seeing a hadith reported from Asbat ibn Nasr. Then he found in it the name of Qutn ibn Naseer, when he said: This one is worse than the former! Qutn ibn Naseer has reported traditions with a chain going back to Anas while they were ascribed to Thabit. Then he looked and said: It is reported from Ahmad ibn ‘Isa al-Misri in the book of Sahih! saying then: Does he (Muslim) report from such people and leave Muhammad ibn Ajlan and his likes, allowing the heretics to daresay regarding any hadith with which they were argued: This is not taken from the Sahih. Abu Zar’ah used to censure the composition of this
book.
Muslim has reported from Abu al-Zubayr, from Jabir many traditions that were known to be weak. In his regard the traditionists said: Abu al-Zubayr Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Tadrus al-Makki used to defraud in Jabir’s hadith, reporting from Jabir and Ibn Umar during the Farewell Pilgrimage (Hijjat al-Wada’) a hadith with two different narrations, about which Ibn Hazm said: One of them is undoubtedly false, and he related then the hadith “Allah created the soil on Saturday.
The traditionists also said: When Muslim compiled his Sahih he laid it before Abu Zar’ah al-Razi, who disapproved it and turned enraged saying: And you have called it al-Sahih! making it a ladder for men of heresies and others, in a way that when any opponent relating a hadith (to argue with) they would say: This can never be in Sahih Muslim.
On his arrival to the Town of Ray, Muslim went to Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Warah, who treated him rudely and reproached him for his book, reiterating the same words of Abu Zar’ah about him. Thereat Muslim apologized to him saying: I have brought out this book and said it is Sahih, never claiming that all the traditions that I did not cite in this book being weak! But I brought it out from the sahih traditions so as to be kept altogether with whoever reporting them from me, doubting not their veracity … and I never claimed other traditions to be weak. He then accepted his excuse and related hadith to him briefly.
Muslim has reported traditions of people the hadith of whom al-Bukhari abstained from reporting due to a suspicion he had regarding them,
There was so much talk on criticism against al-Bukhari and Muslim,
but I suffice with citing the following.
Views Held about al-Bukhari and Muslim
Al-Hafiz Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi, in exposition of his Alfiyyah fi ulum al-hadith, when stating degrees of correct hadith, reported that Muhammad ibn Tahir said in his book of Shurut al-A’immah: al-Bukhari and Muslim stipulate to report the hadith that unanimous agreement is there regarding reliability of its narrators reaching to a well-known companion. In exposition of his Alfiyyah, al-Iraqi writes: What is uttered by Ibn Tahir is not good as al-Nasa’i has deemed weak some of those from whom the two Shaykhs, or one of them, reported. Al-Badr al-Ayni said: In the Sahih we can find the earlier reporters that were defamed by some of the earlier traditionists.
In al-Ilm al-shamikh, al-Muqbili writes: Among rijal in the two Sahihs some are deemed weak and criticized severely by many leaders of hadith, though they needed not but to act according to their ijtihad.
Ibn al-Salah says: al-Bukhari used for argument some people who were already defamed by others, like Ikrimah, the mawla of Ibn Abbas, Isma’il ibn Abi Awis, Asim ibn Ali and Amr ibn Marzuq and others. While Muslim used Suwayd ibn Sa’id and others who were known of being unreliable and suspected position, and so did Abu Dawud.
Al-Shaykh Ahmad Muhammad Shakir (may God’s mercy be upon him), in his Sharh Alfiyyat al-Suyuti, writes: In the two Sahihs many traditions are found that were reported by some of the imposters.
Muslim reported from a large number of those who were not immune against jarh and vilification, and so also found in Sahih al-Bukhari some narrators of unreliable position. Therefore narration was done through ijtihad
of the ulama’ regarding them, and also the provisions, even when what is considered a condition by someone is negated by another, that what is narrated by the latter in which that condition is not found would be regarded by him equal to what is narrated by his opponent containing that condition, and so also regarding that who deemed some narrator weak while another one deemed him reliable.
Concerning the criticism levelled at them both in respect of the texts and their inconsistency with the Book (Qur’an) and authentic sunnah and the alike, they have never undertaken this task as it is among the responsibilities of ulama’ of kalam and usul.
Estrangement of Riwayah of Men of Opinion:
Al-Qasimi is reported to have said: Authors of al-Sihah shunned narration from people of opinion, like al-Imam Abu Yusuf and al-Imam Muhammad ibn al-Hasan, who were deemed as pliable by men of hadith as can be seen in Mizan al-i’tidal. Their works indicate clearly ampleness and profundity of their knowledge, and rather their priority over a large number of huffaz. 595 Al-Bukhari has also shunned reporting from the Imams of the Prophet’s Household, and the following is a statement in this regard.
Al-Allamah Abd al-Husayn Sharaf al-Din, in his book al-Fusul al-muhimmah fi ta’lif al-ummah, 596 writes: What is even worse than all this, being al-Bukhari’s not referring to Ahl al-Bayt Imams in his Sahih in cases of argument, as he has never reported any hadith from al-Sadiq, al-Kazim, al-Rida, al-Jawad, al-Hadi and al-Zaki al-Askari, though he lived contemporaneously with them, never relating from al-Hasan ibn (al-Imam) al-Hasan, nor from Zayd ibn Ali ibn al-Husayn (al-Imam), nor Yahya ibn Zayd, nor al-Nafs al-Zakiyyah Muhammad ibn Abd Allah al-Kamil ibn al-Hasan al-Rida ibn al-Hasan al-Sibt or his brother Ibrahim ibn Abd Allah, nor al-Husayn al-Fakhkhi ibn Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Hasan (al-Imam), nor Yahya ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Hasan or his brother Idris ibn Abd Allah, nor
Muhammad ibn Ja’far al-Sadiq, nor Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Isma’il ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Hasan, known with name Ibn Tabataba or his brother al-Qasim al-Sharsi, nor Muhammad ibn Zayd ibn Ali, nor Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Qasim ibn Ali ibn Umar al-Ashraf ibn Zayn al-Abidin, the author of al-Taliqan and contemporary of al-Bukhari nor from other learned among the pure Itrah (Household) and bushes of the blossomy tree, like Abd Allah ibn al-Hasan and Ali ibn Ja’far al-Aridi and others. He has also never reported any hadith from the Prophet’s elder Sibt and his Rayhanah (aromatic plant) in the world Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Mujtaba the master of youth of paradise people, though he used to refer to chief of Khawarij and the severest in antagonism against Ahl al-Bayt, Imran ibn Hattan, who said in regard of Ibn Muljim and his smite to Amir al-Mu’minin (peace be upon him):
O strike from a pious not intending with it,
But to attain to pleasure of Lord of Throne,
I remember him one day and suppose him to be,
The most faithful of mankind in Allah’s view.
See p. 8.
This hadith was reported by Abu Hurayrah, declaring that he heard it from the Prophet. Refer to my book Shaykh al-mudirah.
See p. 16.
Al-Imam Ahmad said that he (Abu Zar'ah) memorized 700 thousand traditions. Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Umar al-Razi said: Abu Zar'ah learnt by heart 700 thousand traditions, with 140 thousand ones on tafsir (Tawjih al-nazar, p. 4).
Al-Hazimi, Shurut al-A'immah al-Khamsah, pp. 60, 63.
Al-Maqdisi, op. cit., pp. 10, 11.
Al-Hazimi, op. cit., pp. 58, 59.
Muqaddimat Ibn al-Salah, p. 41.
See p. 36.
See my statement about tadlis (fraud) and cheaters in my book Shaykh al-Mudirah.
Sharh Shurat al-A'immah al-Khamsah, p. 58.
Tawjih al-nazar, p. 131.
Al-Qasimi, al-Jarh wa al-ta'dil, p. 24.
See 2nd edition, pp. 159, 168.