❀ Compilation: Hafiz Muhammad Anwar Zahid حفظه الله
✿ The Alleged Narration
Abu Layla Ghifari narrates that he heard the Noble Prophet ﷺ say:
“Soon after me, a tribulation will occur. So at that time, hold fast to ʿAlī (رضي الله عنه), for he is the very first person who saw me. He is also the very first person who will shake hands with me on the Day of Judgment. He will be with me in the lofty heavens. And he is the one who will distinguish between truth and falsehood.”
[Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl: 3371]✿ The Historical Context and Position of the Companions
When ʿAlī (رضي الله عنه) assumed the Caliphate and declared war against those who did not accept his leadership, the majority of the Companions refused to support him. Their reasoning was based on the forewarning of the Noble Prophet ﷺ about a coming tribulation. He ﷺ had said that the one who remains seated during that time will be better than the one who stands, and similar details are mentioned in authentic narrations. These accounts are found in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī, and Ibn Mājah, narrated from:
◈ ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar
◈ Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān
◈ Usāmah ibn Zayd
◈ Zayd ibn Thābit
◈ Abū Hurayrah
◈ Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī
◈ Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ
◈ Kaʿb ibn Mālik
◈ Abū Bakr
◈ Umm Salamah
◈ Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Bajalī
رضي الله عنهم أجمعين
The above narration under discussion was fabricated a long time after the fact to counter these authentic narrations.
✿ Accusations Based on This Fabricated Report
This narration forms the basis for laying blame on those noble figures who fought against ʿAlī (رضي الله عنه) and considered it permissible. Among them are:
◈ ʿĀʾishah (رضي الله عنها) – the Mother of the Believers
◈ Ṭalḥah
◈ al-Zubayr
◈ Muʿāwiyah
◈ ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ
◈ Mughirah ibn Shuʿbah
◈ ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ
رضي الله عنهم جميعًا
✿ The Reality Behind This Narration
The true originator of this narration is Isḥāq ibn Bishr ibn Muqātil al-Kūfī al-Kāhilī, whose kunyah is Abū Yaʿqūb.
✔ Al-Maṭīn states: “I never heard Imam Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah call anyone a liar except Isḥāq, whom he did call a liar.”
✔ Mūsá ibn Hārūn and Abū Zurʿah also declared him a kadhdhāb (liar).
✔ Fallas and others said he is matrūk (abandoned).
✔ Dāraqutnī said he is among those who fabricated Hadith.
✔ Dhahabī said, “The one who invented this tale is Isḥāq ibn Bishr al-Kāhilī. May Allah never bless him.”
[Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl: 1/337 | al-Mughnī: 1/70 | al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl: 2/214 | al-Ḍuʿafāʾ wa al-Matrūkīn: 1001]✿ Critique of the Transmission Chain
① Attribution to Ḥasan al-Baṣrī
Isḥāq ibn Bishr attributed this narration to Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, claiming he transmitted it from Abū Laylā, the Companion.
However, had Ḥasan al-Baṣrī truly known of this tale and believed in it, he would have supported ʿAlī (رضي الله عنه) when he arrived in Basrah to face ʿĀʾishah (رضي الله عنها).
Instead, Ḥasan al-Baṣrī left Basrah out of fear of tribulation and retreated to a village. He did not return even after the battle concluded.
Though ʿAlī (رضي الله عنه) had appointed his cousin ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās as governor of Basrah, Ḥasan al-Baṣrī never even met him, indicating the attribution is false.
② **Ḥasan al-Baṣrī was a well-known mudallis and transmitted mursal reports from Companions.
He never saw Abū Laylā, the Companion.
This is another proof of the fabrication.
③ The narrator who transmitted this story from Ḥasan al-Baṣrī is ʿAwf al-Aʿrābī, a student of Ḥasan.
Though known in history as “ʿAwf al-Ṣadūq,” Imam Ibn al-Mubārak—whom Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār included among the ascetic followers of the Tābiʿīn in Tadhkirat al-Awliyāʾ—once said to Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān al-Ḍabʿī:
“You have seen Ibn ʿAwn, Yūnus, and Ayyūb. So why did you not acquire knowledge from them and instead chose to attend the gatherings of ʿAwf al-Aʿrābī?”
He further said:
“By Allah! This ʿAwf is not pleased until he adopts two corrupt views – he is a Qadarī (denier of divine decree) and a Shīʿī.”
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Anṣārī said: “I saw Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind beating this ʿAwf and saying: ‘O Qadarī!’” Muḥammad ibn Bashshār (famously known as Bundār) would say upon narrating from ʿAwf:“By Allah! ʿAwf is a Qadarī, a Rāfiḍī, a devil.”
Muqaddimah Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim | Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl: 3/305④ The person who narrated this story from ʿAwf al-Aʿrābī is Khālid ibn al-Ḥārith, who is majhūl (unknown).
Hence, none of the narrators in the chain of this narration are trustworthy.
⚠ Conclusion:
The narration commanding to “hold fast to ʿAlī after me” is entirely fabricated and lacks any credible basis. Its chain is composed of liars, weak narrators, and unknown individuals. It was concocted generations later to counter the authentic prophetic narrations and to accuse noble Companions (رضي الله عنهم).
