Fath al-Rabbani

Benefits: … After narrating this hadith, Ikrimah said: I said to him, “What is the matter with the animal?” He replied, “I do not think he (i.e., the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said this except that he disliked that its meat be eaten while such a filthy act had been done with it.” (Abu Dawud: 4464, Tirmidhi: 1455)

Contrary to this hadith, the personal statement of Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Abbas radi Allahu anhu is: “There is no prescribed punishment (hadd) upon the one who commits this act with an animal.” … That is, the person who does this evil act with an animal, there is no hadd upon him. (Abu Dawud: 4465, Tirmidhi: 1455)

Amr ibn Abi Amr narrates this hadith as marfu‘ (attributed to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), while Asim ibn Bahdalah narrates it from Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas radi Allahu anhu as mawquf (stopped at the Companion). Imam Tirmidhi said regarding the mawquf narration: “And this is more authentic than the first (i.e., the marfu‘) hadith, and the practice among the people of knowledge is upon this, and it is also the statement of Ahmad and Ishaq.” … That is, this hadith is more authentic than the first, i.e., the marfu‘ hadith, and the people of knowledge act upon this, and this is also the view of Imam Ahmad and Imam Ishaq.

Imam Abu Dawud said: “The hadith of Asim weakens the hadith of Amr ibn Abi Amr.” … That is, the mawquf hadith of Asim weakens the hadith of Amr ibn Abi Amr.

Shaykh al-Albani says: However, Imam Bayhaqi has excellently critiqued this opinion that gives preference to the mawquf narration. He said: This hadith has been narrated to us from Ikrimah through several chains; I think that Amr ibn Abi Amr is not less in precision and retention than Asim ibn Bahdalah, while a group has also followed up Amr ibn Abi Amr, and according to most of the Imams, Ikrimah is among the trustworthy and reliable narrators.

I (al-Albani) say: The correct research is that Amr ibn Abi Amr is not of a lower rank than Asim ibn Bahdalah; rather, it is possible that in matters of hadith, he is a better narrator than him. This reality will become clear from the biographies of both narrators.

Hafiz Ibn Hajar said in “Taqrib” about Amr: “Trustworthy, though he sometimes errs (thiqah, rubbama wahima),” and about Asim: “Truthful, but he has errors (saduq lahu awham).”

Imam Dhahabi said about Asim: “Truthful, but makes mistakes (saduq yahim),” and Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim have narrated from him in conjunction with others. And about Amr, he said: He is “truthful (saduq),” and his narration is present in the foundational collections of Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. Thus, it is clear that the narrator Amr is stronger than Asim, and in case of contradiction, the hadith of Amr will be preferred. Moreover, Amr’s hadith is marfu‘, while Asim’s is mawquf, and according to the principles of the people of hadith, when giving preference to narration over opinion, it is not correct to declare the marfu‘ narration weak due to the mawquf narration, contrary to the Hanafis. Then, the follow-ups (mutaba‘at) to which Imam Bayhaqi pointed also strengthen the hadith of Amr; I have found two of these follow-ups:

(First) … Dawud ibn Husayn from Ikrimah with this (narration). Imam Ibn Majah, Imam Daraqutni, Imam Bayhaqi, and Imam Ahmad have narrated this hadith with this chain. In this chain, Ibrahim Ashhali is also weak, and Ibn Husayn is weak in narrating from Ikrimah.

(Second) … ‘Abbad ibn Mansur from Ikrimah with this (narration). Imam Hakim, Imam Bayhaqi, and Imam Ibn ‘Asakir have narrated it. In this, ‘Abbad ibn Mansur is truthful (saduq), but he used to practice tadlis (concealing the source of a hadith) and later suffered from confusion (ikhtilat).

Then, there is also a marfu‘ supporting narration (shahid) for the hadith of Amr ibn Abi Amr, which is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah radi Allahu anhu. Imam Abu Ya‘la has narrated it in his Musnad; its narrators are trustworthy and well-known, except for ‘Abd al-Ghaffar ibn ‘Abdullah, about whom Ibn Abi Hatim mentioned him but did not transmit any criticism or praise. The predominant assumption is that Imam Ibn Hibban mentioned him in “al-Thiqat.” Hafiz Haythami, after attributing this hadith to Abu Ya‘la in “Majma‘ al-Zawa’id,” said: In it is Muhammad ibn ‘Amr; his hadith is hasan, and the rest of the narrators are trustworthy. However, Hafiz Ibn Hajar said in “Talkhis al-Habir”: Abu Ya‘la said: It has reached us that ‘Abd al-Ghaffar retracted from this, and Ibn ‘Adi said that people had prompted him. (See: Irwa’ al-Ghalil: 8/17)

From this discussion, it is established that the hadith of this chapter, number (6732), is authentic: that the Noble Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: “Whoever commits this act with an animal, kill him and the animal as well.”