❖ The Ruling on the Chain of the Hadith: “Seek Knowledge Even If You Must Go to China” ❖
Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
Question:
What is the status of the following narration?
❀ Reported from Sayyiduna Anas ibn Mālik رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
أطلبوا العلم ولو بالصين، فإن طلب العلم فريضة على كل مسلم
“Seek knowledge, even if you must go to China, for indeed seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim (male and female).”
(Al-Ḍuʿafāʾ al-Kabīr by al-ʿUqaylī 2/230; Al-Kāmil by Ibn ʿAdī 5/188)
Answer:
All chains of transmission for this narration are weak.
✿ Statements of the Scholars
❀ Imām Isḥāq ibn Rāhwayh رحمه الله said:
لم يصح الخبر فيه
“No authentic narration exists in this regard.”
(Masāʾil al-Kawsaj: 3311)
❀ Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal رحمه الله said:
لا يثبت عندنا فيه شيء.
“Nothing regarding this is established according to us.”
(Al-Mukhtār min ʿIlal al-Khallāl 1/128)
❀ Imām al-Bazzār رحمه الله said:
كل ما يروى فيها عن أنس، فغير صحيح.
“All narrations from Anas رضي الله عنه on this subject are unauthentic.”
(Musnad al-Bazzār 1/164)
❀ Imām al-ʿUqaylī رحمه الله said:
الرواية فى هذا الباب فيها لين.
“The narrations in this chapter are weak.”
(Al-Ḍuʿafāʾ al-Kabīr 2/230)
❀ Imām Ibn Ḥibbān رحمه الله said:
ليس بصحيح.
“It is not authentic.”
(Kitāb al-Majrūḥīn 1/141)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī رحمه الله said:
هذا حديث متنه مشهور، وإسناده ضعيف، وقد روي من أوجه كلها ضعيف.
“This hadith is well-known in wording, but its chain is weak. It has been narrated through several chains, all of which are weak.”
(Shuʿab al-Īmān, no. 1543)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr رحمه الله said:
هذا حديث يروى عن أنس بن مالك … كلها معلولة لا حجة فى شيء منها.
“This hadith is narrated from Anas ibn Mālik through many routes, but all are defective. None of them are a proof according to the hadith scholars.”
(Jāmiʿ Bayān al-ʿIlm wa Faḍlih 1/23)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn al-Jawzī رحمه الله said:
هذه الأحاديث كلها لا يثبت.
“All these narrations are unauthentic.”
(Al-ʿIlal al-Mutanāhiyah 1/62)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ al-Nawawī رحمه الله said:
هذا الحديث وإن لم يكن ثابتا.
“This hadith is not established.”
(Al-Majmūʿ 1/24; Fatāwā al-Nawawī p. 249 — also calling it weak)
❀ ʿAllāmah al-Zarkashī رحمه الله said:
في كل طرقه مقال.
“All of its chains are problematic.”
(Al-Tadhkirah fī al-Aḥādīth al-Mushtaharah, p. 42)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ al-Sakhāwī رحمه الله said:
في كل منها مقال.
“Every narration in this regard has criticism.”
(Al-Maqāṣid al-Ḥasanah, p. 441)
Conclusion:The hadith “Seek knowledge even if you must go to China” is well-known in wording but weak in all its chains. The scholars unanimously agree that it is not authentic and cannot be used as proof.
