Hafiz Ibn Kathir, may Allah have mercy on him, writes: Tha’laba bin Hatib Ansari requested the Prophet ﷺ to pray for him to become wealthy. The Prophet ﷺ said: “A little that one is grateful for is better than a lot that is beyond one’s capacity.” He made the same request again, and the Prophet ﷺ explained, “Do you not prefer to keep your condition like that of the Prophet of Allah? By Allah! If I wished, these mountains would walk with me, made of gold and silver.” He said, “O Prophet! By Allah! My intention is that if Allah grants me wealth, I will be very generous and give everyone their due rights.” The Prophet ﷺ prayed for the blessing of wealth for him. His goats increased so much as if they were multiplying like insects. Eventually, Medina became too small for his animals, so he went out to a field. He would perform Zuhr and Asr prayers with the congregation, but the other prayers were not performed in congregation. As the blessing in his animals increased, he had to go farther away. Except for Friday prayers, he missed all congregational prayers. He also stopped coming for Friday prayers after some weeks. He used to ask caravans passing by what was preached on Friday.
Once, the Prophet ﷺ inquired about his condition. People told him everything. The Prophet ﷺ expressed sorrow, and then a verse was revealed about taking charity from their wealth and the rules of charity were explained. He appointed two men, one from the tribe of Juhaynah and the other from the tribe of Salim, as collectors of charity, gave them written instructions, and sent them with authorization to collect charity from Tha’laba and another from Bani Salim. When they reached Tha’laba, showed him the Prophet’s order, and asked for charity, he said, “Wow! This is like jizya (tax) collection,” and said, “This is exactly like the jizya taken from non-Muslims. What is this?” He told them to leave and come back later. The other man from Salim, upon hearing this, took his best animals and went himself. When they saw the animals, they said, “These are neither worthy of being taken by us nor are you obliged to give them.” He said, “I want to give the best animals out of my own will; please accept them.” Eventually, they accepted them. They collected from others as well and returned to Tha’laba. He said, “Read me the document you were given.” After hearing it, he said, “This is clearly jizya, the tax imposed on non-Muslims. This is exactly the same. Well, you go, I will think about it.” They left. Upon seeing them, the Prophet ﷺ expressed sorrow for Tha’laba and prayed for blessings for the Salimi man. Then he narrated the incidents of both Tha’laba and the Salimi man. Then Allah, the Exalted, revealed this verse.
When a close relative of Tha’laba heard all this, he went to Tha’laba and recited this verse to him. He came to the Prophet ﷺ and requested that his charity be accepted. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Allah has forbidden me from accepting your charity.” He began to put dust on his head. The Prophet ﷺ said, “This is all your own doing. I told you, but you did not listen.” He returned to his place. The Prophet ﷺ did not accept anything from him until his death. Then, during the caliphate of Abu Bakr Siddiq, he came and said, “My honor with the Prophet ﷺ and my status among the Ansar, you know well. Please accept my charity.” He replied, “If the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not accept it, then who am I to accept it?” Thus, he refused. After his death and when the Commander of the Faithful, Umar ibn Al-Khattab, became the ruler of the Muslims, he came again and said, “Commander of the Faithful, please accept my charity.” He replied, “If the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not accept it, and the first Caliph did not accept it, how can I accept it now?” Therefore, he also did not accept his charity during his caliphate. Then the caliphate passed to Uthman ibn Affan, and this eternal hypocrite came again and begged, but he also replied, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ and your two Caliphs did not accept your charity, so how can I accept it?” Thus, it was not accepted, and during this time, this man died.
Hadith Research:
اسناده ضعیف۔
Its chain of narration is weak.
Al-Haythami says: In it, Ali bin Yazid Al-Alhani is a rejected narrator. Its chain is weak and the text is false. Several narrators in the chain are weak consecutively.
Further investigation of the incident:
A researcher has conducted further investigation which we present to our readers. He writes:
The commentator Al-Qurtubi, in his exegesis of Surah At-Tawbah, verse 78, states: The occasion of revelation (Asbab al-Nuzul) of this verse is narrated from Hazrat Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that Hatib bin Abi Balta’ah was bringing wealth from Sham. There was a delay in its arrival. He swore in a gathering of the Ansar that if his wealth arrived safely, he would give charity from it and maintain kinship ties. When the wealth arrived safely, he acted stingily. Upon this, these verses were revealed:
«وَمِنْهُم مَّنْ عَاهَدَ اللَّهَ لَئِنْ آتَانَا مِن فَضْلِهِ لَنَصَّدَّقَنَّ وَلَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ ﴿٧٥﴾ فَلَمَّا آتَاهُم مِّن فَضْلِهِ بَخِلُوا بِهِ وَتَوَلَّوا وَّهُم مُّعْرِضُونَ ﴿٧٦﴾ »
Imam Al-Qurtubi (may Allah have mercy on him) says that Hazrat Tha’labah (may Allah be pleased with him) was a Badri and Ansari companion, and Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) testified to the faith of the people of Badr. The narration of this incident from him is not authentic.
Abu Amr bin Abdulbar also states: The person who claimed that these verses were revealed about Tha’labah (may Allah be pleased with him) because he refused to give Zakat, this is probably not correct. «والله اعلم»
The commentator Dhahhak says that this verse was revealed about one of these three hypocrites: Nabit bin Al-Arth, Jud bin Qais, and Mu’tab bin Qathir
.
It is also a blessing from Allah that Imam Al-Qurtubi himself rejected this incident. However, alongside this, he hinted that this verse was revealed about Hatib bin Balta’ah (may Allah be pleased with him) in the name of Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), and Al-Qurtubi did not comment on that. Whereas Hazrat Hatib Abi Balta’ah (may Allah be pleased with him) was also a Badri companion. The only difference is that he was among the Muhajireen who entered Mecca. This is called “one did not happen, two happened.” Whereas Imam Al-Qurtubi should have also rejected this.
It is surprising that Abu Amr bin Abdulbar, while denying, says “perhaps,” meaning it might be correct.
Logically, the commentator Al-Qurtubi also did not accept this incident. Therefore, logically, we do not want to start any debate.
Let us also briefly look at it from the perspective of the chain of narration.
Imam Al-Qurtubi claimed that this narration was transmitted by Ali bin Zaid from Qasim, and Qasim from Hazrat Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him). So let us first examine the credibility of Ali bin Zaid.
Ali bin Zaid:
His full lineage is as follows: Ali bin Abdullah bin Zubair Abi Malyakah bin Jaraan. His kunya is Abu al-Hasan and he belongs to the Banu Tamim branch of the Quraysh tribe. He resided in Basra. Muslim, Abu Dawood, Tirmidhi, Nasa’i, and Ibn Majah have narrated his hadiths. He is counted among the scholars of the Tabi‘in.
He narrated hadiths from Anas رضي الله عنه, Abu Uthman al-Hindi, and Saeed bin al-Musayyib. Shu’bah, Abdul Warith, and a group narrated hadiths from him.
There is disagreement among hadith scholars regarding this Ali bin Zaid.
Jariri stated that the eyesight of three jurists of Basra suddenly deteriorated: Qatadah, Ash’ath al-Hadani, and Ali bin Zaid.
Mansur bin Zadhan said that when Hasan al-Basri passed away, we requested Ali bin Zaid to take over Hasan’s musnad.
Musa bin Ismail said that he asked Hammad bin Salamah about Wahib’s claim that Ali bin Zaid could not memorize hadiths. Hammad replied: Wahib does not have the courage to sit with Ali bin Zaid. Ali bin Zaid sits in front of the greatest scholars.
When Shu’bah narrated from Ali bin Zaid, he would say: Ali bin Zaid narrated this hadith from me at a time when his mind was not functioning properly, and he was not insane.
Imam Sufyan bin ‘Uyaynah considered him weak.
When Hammad bin Zaid narrated from him, he said: Ali bin Zaid narrated hadiths from me and he used to make alterations in the hadith.
Fallas said that Imam al-Rajan Yahya bin Saeed al-Qattan used to avoid narrations from this Ali bin Zaid. It is narrated from Imam Yazid bin Zuray’ that he used to say Ali bin Zaid was a Rafidhi.
Imam Ahmad said: He is weak.
Yahya bin Ma’in once said: He is not strong, and another time said: He is nothing.
Ahmad al-Ajli stated that he was Shia. He is not strong. Bukhari and Abu Hatim say his hadiths cannot be used as proof but his narrations should be recorded (for research purposes) because he is better than Yazid bin Abi Yazid.
Fasawi said: He became senile in old age.
Ibn Khuzaymah said: Due to his weak memory, I do not consider his hadiths as proof.
Tirmidhi said: He is truthful.
Darqutni said: In my view, he was always weak.
Ibn ‘Adi and Dhahabi have declared many of his narrations as rejected.
In summary, Ali bin Zaid is truthful but his memory deteriorated in old age. His memory was not weak from the beginning. His hadiths are not proof. He is weak, not strong. He is nothing. He used to make alterations in hadiths. His narrations are rejected. He was Shia, Rafidhi.
Qasim bin Abdul Rahman:
This person is famous by the title Sahib Abi Imam, meaning companion of Abu Umamah رضي الله عنه, a companion of the Prophet. His kunya is Abu Abdul Rahman, and he was a resident of Damascus. He was a slave of the family of Muawiyah.
Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal said: Ali bin Zaid al-Jur’ani narrated strange hadiths from him, and I think all these stories were fabricated by Qasim himself.
Ibn Hibban said that he narrates hadiths from the companions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم with omissions.
In hadith terminology, “Mu‘dal” refers to a narration whose chain has two narrators omitted. That is, when he narrates from a companion, he omits two narrators in between and attributes the hadith directly to the companion, causing people to think he heard it directly from the companion.
Athum said that when a narration of this Qasim was presented before Abu Abdullah (probably Bukhari), he rejected it and said it must have been fabricated by him, i.e., from his private factory.
Ibn Hibban said: Qasim claimed to have met forty Badri companions. However, even the narrations he transmits from ordinary companions are Mu‘dal and he alters the narrations attributing them to trustworthy narrators. My heart tells me that all these narrations are fabricated by him.
Juzjani said: He was a very pious and virtuous person.
Tarandi said: He is trustworthy.
Jabir bin Yazid said: I have not seen anyone better than Qasim Abu Abdul Rahman. We were in Constantinople. People used to receive two loaves of bread daily as rations. He would give one loaf as charity, fast, and break his fast with one loaf.
In matters of hadith, piety does not help much. Imam Yahya bin Saeed al-Qattan even said that among these pious people, he has not seen anyone more lying in hadith.
Moreover, the one who praises his piety is a senior like Jabir bin Yazid. This is the same senior about whom Tirmidhi narrated in Kitab al-‘Ilal the statement of Imam Abu Hanifah:
«مارايت اكذب من جابر الجعفي كان يومن بالرجعة»
I have not seen anyone more lying than Jabir al-Ju‘fi. He believed in the second coming of Hazrat Ali رضي الله عنه.
This Jabir believed that Hazrat Ali رضي الله عنه would return to the world and fly in flying chariots in the clouds.
This is the same Jabir whose statement Imam Muslim narrated in his introduction that he used to say: I have seventy thousand hadiths of Imam Baqir and I have not narrated a single one of them till now.
