Analysis of All Chains of the Report on ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (RA) and the Book from Ahl al-Kitāb
Source: Fatāwā Amunpūrī by Shaykh Ghulām Muṣṭafā Ẓahīr Amunpūrī
❖ The Report
It is narrated from Jābir ibn ʿAbdullāh (RA):
((إن عمر بن الخطاب، أتى النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم بكتاب أصابه من بعض أهل الكتب... والذي نفسي بيده، لو أن موسى كان حيا، ما وسعه إلا أن يتبعني))
— Musnad Aḥmad 3/387, Sunan al-Dārimī 435
Translation (summary):
ʿUmar (RA) brought a book from the People of the Book and began to read it to the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ became angry and said: “Are you in doubt, O son of al-Khaṭṭāb? By the One in Whose hand is my soul, I have brought it to you pure and clear. Do not ask them about anything…” He added: “By the One in Whose hand is my soul, if Mūsā (AS) were alive, he would have had no option but to follow me.”
❖ Chain Analysis
① From Jābir (RA)
- Reported in Musnad Aḥmad and al-Dārimī.
- Chain includes Mujālid ibn Saʿīd → weak.
- Other supporting chains are also weak.
② From ʿUmar (RA) (al-ʿUqaylī, al-Ḍuʿafāʾ al-Kabīr 1/21)
- Contains ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq Abū Shaybah (weak, munkar al-ḥadīth).
- Contains Khalīfah ibn Qays (unknown).
- Severely weak chain.
- Ḥāfiẓ al-Būṣīrī: “This chain is weak.” (Ittiḥāf al-Khiyara 1/249).
③ From ʿAbdullāh ibn Zayd (RA) (Musnad Aḥmad 3/470, 4/265)
- Contains Jābir ibn Yazīd al-Juʿfī (weak, abandoned).
- Also ʿAnʿanah of Sufyān al-Thawrī.
- Chain invalid (bāṭil).
- Imām al-Bukhārī: “Lam yaṣiḥ” — not authentic. (al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr 5/39).
④ From Abū al-Dardāʾ (RA) (Ibn Kathīr, al-Jāmiʿ al-Sunan wa al-Masānīd 9/344; Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid 1/174)
- Chain contains Abū ʿĀmir al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad al-Asadī — unknown.
- Abū Isḥāq al-Sabīʿī is mudallis and mukhṭaliṭ.
- Abū Ḥabībah al-Ṭāʾī is majhūl.
- Imām Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn: “Lā adrī — I don’t know him.”
- Weak chain.
⑤ From al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (mursal) (Faḍāʾil al-Qurʾān by Ibn al-Ḍurays; Shuʿab al-Īmān of al-Bayhaqī)
- Ḥasan al-Baṣrī did not meet ʿUmar (RA), thus munqaṭiʿ.
- He is also a mudallis.
- Weak.
⑥ From Abū Qilābah (mursal) (Muṣannaf ʿAbd al-Razzāq 10163)
- Abū Qilābah narrates mursal.
- Chain has ʿAbd al-Razzāq’s ʿanʿanah.
- Muʿammar’s narrations from Basrans are criticized.
- Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī is also Basran → defect in chain.
- Very weak.
❖ Scholarly Judgments
- Imām al-ʿUqaylī: All chains have weakness. (al-Ḍuʿafāʾ al-Kabīr 1/21).
- Ḥāfiẓ al-Būṣīrī: Chains are weak. (Ittiḥāf al-Khiyara 1/249).
- Imām al-Bukhārī: “Not authentic.” (al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr 5/39).
- Ḥāfiẓ al-Haythamī: Narrators are unknown. (Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid 1/174).
Final Conclusion
All chains of the narration about ʿUmar (RA) bringing a book from Ahl al-Kitāb are weak:
- Some are severely weak due to abandoned narrators (e.g., Jābir al-Juʿfī).
- Others are mursal or contain unknown narrators.
- No chain is ṣaḥīḥ or ḥasan.
Hence, this narration is not established authentically from the Prophet ﷺ or the Companions
