Tirmidhi

Abu Awanah says: When Hasan al-Basri passed away, I desired to know his sayings. I searched for the companions of Hasan al-Basri and came to Aban ibn Abi Ayyash. He narrated to us ahadith, all of them from Hasan al-Basri. I do not consider it permissible to narrate any of them.

Imam Tirmidhi says: Despite the negligence and weakness of Aban bin Abi Ayyash, many Imams have narrated from him, as Abu Awanah and others have said. So if trustworthy people narrate from him, one should not be deceived by this, because it is narrated from Ibn Sirin that a man narrates a hadith to me, so I do not accuse him, rather I accuse the narrator above him.

It is narrated from several people that Ibrahim Nakha'i narrates from Alqama, and Alqama narrates from Abdullah bin Mas'ud that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to recite Qunoot in Witr before bowing (ruku).

And it is narrated from Aban ibn Abi Ayyash that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to recite Qunoot in Witr before bowing (ruku’). Sufyan Thawri has narrated similarly from Aban ibn Abi Ayyash.

Tirmidhi says: Although Aban bin Abi Ayyash is described with the qualities of worship, asceticism, and spiritual exercise, this is his condition in hadith, and the group of hadith scholars were people of memorization. Sometimes it happens that a person is pious and righteous, but he can neither testify nor remember (the narration). Therefore, according to the preferred view of the majority of the people of hadith, a narrator who is accused of lying or a heedless narrator who makes frequent mistakes, hadith will not be narrated from such narrators. Do you not see that Abdullah bin Mubarak narrated hadith from a group of scholars, but when their conditions became clear, he abandoned narrating from them?

Salih bin Abdullah Tirmidhi says: We were with Abu Muqatil Samarqandi, and he began narrating lengthy hadiths regarding the advice of Luqman, the killing of Sa'id bin Jubair, and similar things from 'Awn bin Abi Shaddad. Abu Muqatil's nephew said to him: Uncle! Do not say that 'Awn narrated hadith to us, because in reality you have not heard anything from him. He said: Son! This is good speech.

Tirmidhi says: I heard Jarud say: We were with Abu Muawiyah when the hadith of Abu Muqatil was mentioned to him, that Abu Muqatil narrated from Sufyan Thawri, and Thawri from A’mash, and A’mash from Abu Zubyan. Abu Zubyan says that Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked about the hive of bees, so he said: There is no harm in it; it is like the game of the sea. Abu Muawiyah said: I will not say that your companion (meaning Abu Muqatil) is a liar, but this hadith is a lie.

Some Ahl al-Hadith criticized a group of eminent scholars, declaring them weak due to deficiencies in their memory, while other Imams authenticated them because of their truthfulness and high status, even though there are some errors in their narrations.

Yahya bin Saeed Al-Qattan criticized Muhammad bin Amr, then narrated from him.

Ali bin Al-Madini says: I asked Yahya bin Sa'id Al-Qattan about Muhammad bin Amr bin Alqama, so he said: Do you want an opinion based on leniency and forgiveness about him, or a strict one? I said: No, I want the strict opinion. He replied: He is not of the standard that you require. In narration, he used to say: Our sheikhs are Abu Salamah and Yahya bin Abdur Rahman bin Hatib.

Yahya bin Saeed Al-Qattan says: I asked Malik bin Anas about Muhammad bin Amr, so Malik expressed about him in the same way as I had said.

Ali bin Al-Madini says: Yahya bin Saeed Al-Qattan says: Muhammad bin Amr is superior to Suhail bin Abi Salih; in my view, he holds precedence over Abdur Rahman bin Harmalah.

Ali bin Al-Madini says: I asked Yahya bin Sa'id Al-Qattan: What is your opinion about Abdur Rahman bin Harmalah? He said: If I wanted to prompt him, I could do so. I asked: Was he prompted? He said: Yes!

Ali bin Al-Madani says: Yahya bin Saeed Al-Qattan did not narrate from Shareek, nor from Abu Bakr bin Ayyash, nor from Rabee’ bin Subaih, nor from Mubarak bin Fadalah.

Tirmidhi says: Yahya bin Saeed Al-Qattan, although he abandoned narrating hadith from these people, he did not abandon them due to the accusation of lying, but only abandoned them because of the weakness of their memory.

It is narrated from Yahya bin Saeed Al-Qattan that when he saw a narrator narrating once from his memory, and another time from his book, and in both situations he did not remain consistent in a narration, then he would abandon him.

And from those narrators whom Yahya al-Qattan had abandoned, Abdullah bin al-Mubarak, Waki’ bin Jarrah, Abdur Rahman bin Mahdi, and other Imams of Hadith have narrated .

Tirmidhi says: Similarly, some of the Ahl al-Hadith have criticized Suhail bin Abi Salih, Muhammad bin Ishaq, Hammad bin Salamah, Muhammad bin ‘Ajlan, and the Imams of Hadith of this rank. The reason for this criticism is weakness in the narration of some of their hadiths, even though other Imams have narrated from them.

It is narrated from Ali bin Al-Madini that Sufyan bin ‘Uyaynah said to us: We used to consider Suhail bin Abi Salih trustworthy in hadith.

Sufyan bin ‘Uyaynah says: Muhammad bin ‘Ajlan was trustworthy and reliable in hadith.

Tirmidhi says: In our view, Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qattan has criticized Muhammad ibn 'Ajlan in his narration from Sa'id al-Maqburi. It is narrated from 'Ali ibn al-Madini that Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qattan says: Muhammad ibn 'Ajlan says: Some of Sa'id al-Maqburi's ahadith are narrated from Abu Hurairah, and some are through a man from Abu Hurairah. Sa'id's narrations became mixed up for me, so we narrated all of them with the chain of Sa'id from Abu Hurairah. In our view, Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qattan criticized Ibn 'Ajlan for this reason, even though Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qattan has narrated abundantly from Ibn 'Ajlan.

It is narrated from Ali bin Al-Madini that Yahya bin Saeed Al-Qattan says: Shu’bah narrated with the chain of Ibn Abi Layla from his brother Isa from Abdur Rahman bin Abi Layla from Abu Ayyub from the Prophet (ﷺ) regarding sneezing.

Yahya bin Saeed Al-Qattan says: Then I met Ibn Abi Layla, and he narrated to us that his brother Isa narrated to him, Isa narrated from Ibn Abi Layla, and he narrated from Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), and Ali narrated from the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

Tirmidhi says: Similarly, whoever criticized Ibn Abi Layla did so only because of the weakness of his memory.

Tirmidhi says: Many such things are narrated from Ibn Abi Layla; sometimes he narrates one thing in this way, then changes its chain of narration, and all this happened only due to weakness of memory. Most of the scholars of the previous era did not write down hadiths, and those who did write, would do so after hearing the hadith.

Tirmidhi says: I heard Ahmad bin Al-Hasan saying, he said: I heard Ahmad bin Hanbal saying: No argument shall be established from Ibn Abi Layla.

Similarly, the scholars who have criticized Mujalid bin Saeed and Abdullah bin Lahi’ah and others, the reason for this is only the weakness of their memory and frequent mistakes in narration. While many Imams have narrated from them, if any of these narrators is alone in narrating a hadith and there is no corroboration for it, then it will not be considered as proof. For example, the statement of Ahmad bin Hanbal that Ibn Abi Layla is not a valid proof; Ahmad bin Hanbal means that when Ibn Abi Layla is alone in narrating something, then he is not a valid proof. And often it happens that the narrator does not remember the chains of narration, so he either omits or adds to the chain, or changes the chain, or narrates with such words that the meaning is altered.

Ya'la bin Ubaid says: Sufyan Thawri told us: Avoid al-Kalbi. It was said to him: But you narrate from him. He said: I can distinguish between his truth and his lies.