Attacks on Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah by the Deniers of Hadith
Author: Hafiz Zubair Ali ZaiQuestion:
I heard an incident narrated by someone: "One day, Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) was sitting in the courtyard of the Prophet's Mosque (peace be upon him) narrating a Hadith to some people. When Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) learned about this, he said: 'Abu Hurairah! When this incident happened, I was with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and it did not happen the way you are describing it. Do you not fear attributing false statements to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)? If it were someone else in your place, I (Umar) would have beheaded him.'" Al-Iyadhu Billah. Is this incident authentically proven?
During the conversation, the person added that "once, someone asked Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him): 'Now you narrate many Hadiths, but during the lifetime of Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), you did not narrate so many.' Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) replied: 'At that time, I feared that my neck would be struck.'"
Are these incidents authentic? (Fakhr-ul-Hasan Gilani, Rawalpindi, November 21, 2006)
Answer:
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon His trustworthy Messenger. As for what follows:
These incidents are fabricated and baseless due to the lack of chain of transmission. I have not found these incidents with an authentic chain in any book. Contrary to this baseless story, Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) completely trusted Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him). As evidence, I present two references from authentic Hadiths:
Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him)
A woman was brought to Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) who used to tattoo. He stood up and said (to the Companions): "I adjure you by Allah, has any of you heard anything from the Prophet (peace be upon him) about tattooing?" Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up and said: "O Leader of the Believers! I have heard the Prophet (peace be upon him) say:
'Do not tattoo and do not get tattooed.'"
[Bukhari: 5946]
Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) asking Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) about Hadith and not objecting to it is clear evidence that he considered Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) truthful and reliable.
Once, Sayyiduna Hassan bin Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) was reciting poetry in the mosque, and Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) passed by and looked at him angrily. Sayyiduna Hassan (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I used to recite poetry in this mosque when a person better than you (the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him) was present in it." Then he looked at Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: "I adjure you by Allah, did you hear the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) say:
'Respond on my behalf. O Allah, support him with the Holy Spirit.'"
Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) said:
"Yes." [Sahih Muslim: 2485/151 6384]
Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said to Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him): "O Abu Hurairah! You were the most consistent among us with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and the most knowledgeable of his Hadith." [Sunan at-Tirmidhi: 3836, and its chain is authentic; At-Tirmidhi said: "This Hadith is Hasan." Al-Hakim authenticated it (510, 511/3 H 6167), and Adh-Dhahabi agreed with him.]
Sayyiduna Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him)
Sayyiduna Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) appointed Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) as a caller to announce during the Farewell Pilgrimage.
[Sahih Bukhari: 369]
This authentic narration shows that Sayyiduna Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) held Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) in high regard. It is noteworthy that during this pilgrimage, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) appointed Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) as a caller.
Sayyidah Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) Testifying to Abu Hurairah's Truthfulness
Once, Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated a Hadith, and Sayyidah Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) was asked about it. She said:
"Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) has spoken the truth."
[Tabaqat Ibn Sa'd 332/4, and its chain is authentic]
Sayyidah Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) had her funeral prayer led by Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him). [At-Tarikh As-Saghir by Bukhari, p. 55; the second version, 129, 128/1, and its chain is authentic; Ibn Wahb narrated it from Ibn Juraij, and the narrator from him is either Ibn Salih or Ibn Isa Al-Masri, both of whom are trustworthy.]
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him)
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:
"O Allah! Make Abu Hurairah and his mother beloved to Your believing servants."
[Sahih Muslim: 2491/158 6396]
This supplication was accepted. Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Every believer who hears about me loves me without even seeing me."
[Sahih Muslim: 2491, the meaning is similar]
Summary of the Investigation:
All these narrations and other authentic Hadiths prove that the aforementioned incident is baseless and fabricated.
The Second Story: Fear of Being Beheaded
This story is also baseless and fabricated. Here is the research on some other related narrations:
It is narrated from Muhammad bin Ajlan that Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say:
"I narrate such Hadiths that if I had narrated them during the time of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), he would have struck my head (and injured it)." [Al-Bidayah wa An-Nihayah by Ibn Kathir 110/8, and Siyar A'lam An-Nubala by Adh-Dhahabi 601/2]
This narration is severely disconnected as the chain below Abdullah bin Wahb Al-Misri is missing, and Muhammad bin Ajlan was also a Mudallis. [See Al-Anwar Al-Kashifah, p. 155; Tabaqat Al-Mudallisin by Ibn Hajar, 3/98, the third level; and Mushkil Al-Athar by At-Tahawi, 100, 101/1]
A narration from the chain of Saleh bin Abi Al-Akhdar from Az-Zuhri from Abu Salama says that Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say: "We could not narrate Hadiths from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) during the lifetime of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him)." [Al-Bidayah wa An-Nihayah 110/8]
This chain is weak and rejected. Saleh bin Abi Al-Akhdar is considered weak.
[At-Taqreeb: 2844]
Imam Az-Zuhri was a Mudallis. [See Tabaqat Al-Mudallisin, 3/102, the third level; and Sharh Ma'ani Al-Athar by At-Tahawi, 55/1]
The chain below Saleh bin Abi Al-Akhdar is missing, and in Siyar A'lam An-Nubala [602/2], the narrator from Saleh is Yazid bin Yusef Ar-Raji, who is weak, so this chain is not even established from Saleh.
Without a chain, it is narrated from Muhammad bin Yahya Adh-Dhahli: Thana Abdul Razzaq from Ma'mar from Az-Zuhri that Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I could not narrate these Hadiths during the lifetime of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) because I was certain that I would be flogged."
[Al-Bidayah wa An-Nihayah 110/8]
This narration is rejected for several reasons:
- Imam Az-Zuhri (may Allah have mercy on him) did not hear anything from Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him). His narrations from Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) are disconnected. [See Al-Ittihaf Al-Maharah by Ibn Hajar, 590/15; Tuhfat At-Tahseel by Al-Iraqi, p. 289; and Jami' At-Tahseel, p. 269]
- Besides Imam Az-Zuhri's Tadlis, Imam Abdul Razzaq bin Hammam As-San'ani (may Allah have mercy on him) was also a Mudallis. [See Tabaqat Al-Mudallisin, 2/58, the second level; Al-Kitab Adh-Dhu'afa by Al-Aqeeli, 110, 111/3, and its chain is authentic]
This narration indicates that Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) did not prefer excessive narration of Hadiths to prevent people from falling into fitnah.
[See Al-Bidayah wa An-Nihayah 110/8]
Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) similarly instructed other Companions not to narrate excessively.
[See Siyar A'lam An-Nubala by Adh-Dhahabi, 601/2]
Despite this Farooqi Ijtihad, other Companions like Sayyidah Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), Sayyiduna Jabir bin Abdullah Al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him), and Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) continued to narrate Hadiths abundantly, and the practice of the majority of the Companions is the most authentic.
An Authentic Incident of Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah's Great Memory
It is narrated from Abu Za’iza, the scribe of Marwan, that Marwan bin Al-Hakam called Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) and started asking him about Hadiths. Marwan had placed me behind a curtain so that I could write them down. The next year, Marwan called Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) again and asked him about those Hadiths. He instructed me to look at the written record. I saw that Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) had not altered a single word. [Al-Ashraf Ala Manaqib Al-Ashraf by Ibn Abi Dunya, p. 157, 158, Hadith 311, and its chain is Hasan; Al-Mustadrak by Al-Hakim, 510/3, Hadith 6164, and Al-Hakim said: "This Hadith is authentic according to the criteria of Bukhari and Muslim." Adh-Dhahabi agreed with him.]
SubhanAllah! How great a memory Allah had bestowed upon Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him)!
Note:
After the authentication by Al-Hakim and Adh-Dhahabi, calling Abu Za’iza unknown is incorrect.
A Great Miracle of Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him)
Qadi Abu At-Tayyib (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "We were sitting in a circle in the Jamia Mansur mosque when a young man from Khorasan came and asked about the issue of stopping milk from the animal's udders and demanded evidence. A scholar (Muhaddith) presented a Hadith narrated by Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) on this issue. The malicious young man said: 'Abu Hurairah's Hadith is not acceptable.' Qadi Abu At-Tayyib said: 'The young man had not finished his statement when a large snake fell from the roof of the mosque. People started running away, and the young man also ran in front of the snake. Later, the snake disappeared.'
[Al-Muntazam by Ibn Al-Jawzi, 106/17, and its chain is authentic]
May Allah fill our hearts with the love of Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him). Ameen.
Books in Defense of Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him)
In defense of Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him), the scholars of truth have written many books, among which the following two are extremely important:
- Difa’ An Abi Hurairah by Abdul Munim Saleh Al-Ali Al-Izi
- Al-Anwar Al-Kashifah by Abdul Rahman bin Yahya Al-Mu’allimi (may Allah have mercy on him) [Pages 140 to 228]
More than seven hundred narrators have narrated Hadiths from Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him).
See Difa’ An Abi Hurairah
[Pages 273 to 314].
Some say that more than eight hundred narrators have narrated from him.
(November 24, 2006)