Authored by: Hafiz Muhammad Anwar Zahid (ḥafiẓahullāh)
❖ The Narration
Abū Jarrād narrates:
Hazrat Ali (رضي الله عنه) once questioned Hazrat Zubair (رضي الله عنه) under oath:
“Did you not hear the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say:
‘O Zubair! You will fight against Ali (رضي الله عنه), and you will be the oppressor?’”
Hazrat Zubair (رضي الله عنه) replied:
“Indeed, I did hear that, but I had forgotten.”
[Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl, Vol. 4, p. 411 | Also recorded by al-ʿUqaylī in al-Ḍuʿafāʼ: Vol. 3, p. 35]
❖ The Status of the Narrator:
✔ Imām al-Dhahabī states:
“This Abū Jarrād, who narrates this story about Hazrat Ali and Hazrat Zubair (رضي الله عنهما), is unknown (majhūl)—no one knows who he is.”
[Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl, Vol. 7, p. 349]
❖ The Chain Transmitters and Their Defects
◈ Abd al-Malik ibn Muslim al-Ruqāshī
He is the one who narrates this story from Abū Jarrād.
✔ Imām al-Bukhārī says:
“His narrations are not authentic.”
✔ Imām al-Dhahabī comments:
“No one transmits from him except his grandson.”
◈ ʿAbdullāh ibn Muḥammad al-Ruqāshī
He is the grandson of ʿAbd al-Malik, and no one else narrates from ʿAbd al-Malik except him.
✔ Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān did not narrate from him.
✔ Imām al-Bukhārī further states:
“This narration is objectionable. It is this same narrator who has reported the **incident involving Zubair and Ali (رضي الله عنهما).”
✔ Al-ʿUqaylī notes:
“The chain of this narration is weak.”
[Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl, Vol. 2, p. 488]
❖ The Narrator:
✔ He is described as a hardline Rāfiḍī (extremist Shīʿah).
✔ He was known to revile the first three Caliphs (Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿUthmān رضي الله عنهم).
❖ Conclusion
This narration suffers from multiple defects:
❌ The main narrator (Abū Jarrād) is unknown.
❌ The transmission chain includes weak, abandoned, and sectarian narrators.
❌ The content promotes sectarian agendas and is not reliable by scholarly standards.
