Ibn Hibban

Lady Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) led the people in prayer while the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was present in the row behind him. (Imam Ibn Hibban, may Allah have mercy on him, says:) Shu’bah bin Hajjaj has opposed Zaidah bin Qudamah in transmitting the text of this narration; he has narrated it from Musa bin Abu Aisha. So, Shu’bah has mentioned in his narration that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), when he was performing the prayer sitting, participated as a follower, and the people were standing. Whereas the narrator named Zaidah has mentioned in his narration that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), when he was performing the prayer sitting, was leading the prayer as the Imam, and the people were performing the prayer standing. Both these narrators are trustworthy and both are memorizers, so how can it be permissible to accept the narration transmitted by only one of them, even though both narrations are transmitted about the same action and apparently contradict each other? And this becomes a narration that abrogates the previously existing absolute ruling. So, whoever considers one of these two narrations as abrogating the previous ruling of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and abandons the other narration, and does so without any evidence that proves its authenticity, then he compels his opponent to accept the other narration which he himself has abandoned from among these two narrations, and his opponent abandons the narration which he has accepted. An example of this type in the hadiths is the narration transmitted from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) in which it is mentioned that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) married Lady Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her) while in the state of Ihram. Whereas Sayyiduna Abu Rafi’ (may Allah be pleased with him) has narrated that when the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) married that lady, neither of them was in the state of Ihram. So, these two narrations are contradictory regarding the same action. Although, according to us, there is no contradiction between the two. A group of hadith scholars has considered these two narrations about the marriage of Lady Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her) as explanatory of each other. And they have given the fatwa according to the narration transmitted from Sayyiduna Uthman Ghani (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “A person in Ihram can neither marry nor arrange a marriage for someone else.” The hadith scholars have accepted this narration because it agrees with one of the two narrations transmitted about the marriage with Lady Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her), and the hadith scholars have abandoned the narration transmitted from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) in which it is mentioned that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) married Lady Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her) while in the state of Ihram. Whoever does so, it is necessary for him to say that regarding the reason for the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) performing the prayer, these two narrations are contradictory, as we have mentioned earlier. So now it is necessary that we refer to the narration in which the followers are commanded to perform the prayer sitting when their Imam is performing the prayer sitting. So now we will give the fatwa according to this narration, because it agrees with one of the two narrations transmitted about the prayer of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), in which its reason is mentioned, and we will abandon the narration which is unique among the two, just as was done regarding the narration about the marriage with Lady Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her). According to us, there is no contradiction or difference in these narrations, nor is any narration among them abrogating or abrogated. Rather, one of these narrations is concise and the other is detailed; one is general and the other is explanatory. When one part is combined with the other, the contradiction between the two will be eliminated, and each narration will be applied to its specific context, as we will soon explain, if Allah wills.