Part 1
Shaikh Albani states in his ‘Asl Sifatis Salah:’
‘Placing the hands on the chest is what is established from the Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and nothing else is established. There are many Ahadith concerning this:
- Waa-il ibn Hujr said he saw the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) place his right hand on his left, and then he placed them on his chest.
(This hadith was) collected by {Abu Shaikh in ‘Tarikh Asbahaan’ (p. 125)} and Baihaqi from: Mu’ammal ibn Ismail from al-Thawri from Aasim ibn Kulaib from his father from him (Waa-il).
The narrators of the sanad are thiqaat (reliable) except that Mu-ammal ibn Ismail is mu-takallam fih because of his bad memory. It is mentioned in ‘Taqreeb’: ‘(He is) Veracious (but has a) bad memory.’
Baihaqi then narrates it with a second chain from Waa-il, however its chain is weak.
This hadith has been mentioned by Hafiz Zaila’e in ‘Nasbur Raayah’ (1/314) and he said:
‘Ibn Khuzaimah narrated it in his Sahih.’
And Allah knows best if he narrated it with a different chain or one of the above mentioned ones. Whatever the case maybe the hadith is supported by what follows.”
(Then Albani saw the hadith in ‘Sahih ibn Khuzaimah’ (1/54/2) and it had the same chain of Mu-ammal ibn Ismail)
Analysis
- The narration of Mu-ammal ibn Ismael.
1. Even though some muhadditheen have said that Mu-ammal is a person of the Sunnah and upright they have warned us concerning his weak memory.
Abu Hatim said: ‘Veracious, strong on the Sunnah but makes many errors.’
Bukhari said: Munkarul Hadith. (Such a person is extremely weak.)
Abu Dawud mentioned his high status but also pointed out that he makes mistakes.
Ibn Hibban mentions him in his ‘Thiqaat’ but also adds: ‘Sometimes he makes mistakes.’
Mu-ammal had buried his books and started to teach from his memory, so his errors became plentiful.
Saaji said: ‘Veracious but he makes plenty mistakes. He has many awhaam (mistakes) whose listing would take long.’
Ibn Sa’d, Ibn Qaani’ and Daarqutni all pointed out that he makes many mistakes even though he is upright.
After praising Mu-ammal, Yaqub ibn Sufyan said: ‘It is wajib on the ulama to refrain from his hadith because he narrates strange ahaadith from his reliable teachers, and this is worst, because if he was doing such from weak ones we would have an excuse for him.’
Muhammad ibn Nasr said: ‘When Mu-ammal is alone in narrating a hadith it is necessary to verify and examine it because he was a person of weak memory and many errors.’
(See Tahzibul Kamaal and Tazeebut Tahzeeb)
After examining the hadith under discussion we realize that Mu-ammal ibn Ismail has contradicted many great muhadditheen in this narration.
He is the only student of Sufyan al-Thawri that has added the words ‘on his chest’ in this hadith.
2. Sufyan al-Thawri has around 15 very strong and reliable students who have narrated this hadith of Waa-il ibn Hujr but none of them mentions the words ‘on his chest’. Below is a list of some of these giant students of Sufyan al-Thawri:
- Muhammad ibn Idres Shafee’
- Qutaibah ibn Saeed
- Yahya ibn Adam
- Abu Nu-aim al-Fadhl ibn Dukain
- Wakee’ ibn Jarraah
- Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Faryaabi
- Abdur Razzaq
- Humaidi
- Saeed ibn Abdir Rahman al-Makhzoomi.
Therefore even if one was to classify Mu-ammal as reliable, this hadith of his would be counted as shaaz (anomalous) and rejected. If one was to grade Mu-ammal as weak then his contradiction here would be a second reason to reject this hadith. It would then be classified as munkar. Both shaaz and mukar are weak, the latter being weaker.
3. To further show the weakness of this narration the teacher of Sufyan here is Aasim and he has more than 20 students who have narrated this hadith from him, none of whom mention the words ‘on his chest.’ Below is a list of some of these students:
- Sufyan ib Uyainah
- Shu’bah
- Abu Awaanah al-Yashkuri
- Zuhair ibn Mu-aawiyah
- Salam ibn Salim
- Anbasah ibn Saeed
- Abdul Wahid ibn Ziyaad
- Khalid ibn Abdullah al-Waasiti
- Bishr ibn Mufaddhal
- Zaaidah ibn Qudaamah
- Ishaaq ibn Ibrahim al-Fazaari
4. Furthermore Alqamah has narrated this hadith from his father Waa-il ibn Hujr and none of the many narrations have the words ‘on his chest.’
5. Even Mu-ammal himself is not sure how it is narrated as he says in Ibn Khuzaimah’s narration ‘on his chest’ while in Abu Shaikh’s narration he said “by his chest” and he did not mention these words at all in the narration of Tahawi thereby agreeing with all the other authentic narrations that does not have these words.
(See Sifatus Salaatin Nabi by Tarifi and its Hashiyah by al-Fahl)
Therefore Mu-ammal ibn Ismail has clearly made a mistake when he added the words ‘on his chest’ in this hadith. The reality is that these words do not exist in this hadith.
6. To further prove this Sufyan al-Thawri’s opinion concerning this issue is to place the hands ‘under the navel’ in salah. If he had narrated ‘on the chest’ he would never have contradicted it.
- As for the second chain that Shaikh Albani indicated to, which was narrated by Imam Baihaqi in his ‘Sunan’ (2/30), then it is as follows:
‘Muhammad ibn Hujr al-Hadharami said: Saeed ibn Abdil Jabbaar ibn Waa-il narrated to us from his father from his mother from Waa-il ibn Hujr …’
There are many weak narrators in this chain:
- Muhammad ibn Hujr ibn Abdil Jabbaar
Abu Hatim said: ‘He is a Kufi Shaikh.’ (‘Shaikh’ is a criticism not praise, see ar-Raf’u wat Takmeel and its Ta’leeq.)
Bukhari said: ‘In him there is some contemplation.’
Hakim said: ‘He is not strong.’
Ibn Hibban said that he narrates from his uncle, Saeed ibn Abdil Jabbaar from his father a strange transcript in which there are things that have no basis as a hadith of the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم), nor does it have a basis as a hadith of Waa-il ibn Hujr. There are things that are fabricated in it. It is not permissible to use him as proof.
Zahabi said: ‘He has Manaakir (strange ahaadith).’
(See Jarh wat Ta’deel 7/239, Majrooheen 2/284, Meezanul E’tidaal 6/104, Lisaanul Meezaan 7/57, Dhuafaa Ibnil Jawzi 3/49)
2. Saeed ibn Abdil Jabbar is also weak.
Ibn Hibbaan was the only muhaddith to list him amongst the ‘Thiqaat.’ The remainder criticized him.
Imam Bukhari said: ‘Feehi nadhrun.’ ‘There is need to examining him.’ (Some scholars consider this a very harsh criticism from Bukhari)
Imam Nasi’ said: ‘He is not strong.’
Ibn Adi said: ‘He does not have many ahaadith.’
Ibn Ma’een said: ‘He is not reliable.’
Abu Zur’ah listed him among the weak.
Ibnul Jawzi and Zahabi listed him in there respected books on weak narrators.
Ibn Hajr classified him as weak.
(See Tahzeebul Kamaal its Hashiyah, Taqreebut Tahzeeb, Dhuafaa wal Matrukeen, Mezanul E’tidaal)
3. Umm Abdil Jabbaar is unknown.
Allamah Maardini said in ‘Al-Jawharun Naq:’ I do not know her name or her condition.
From the above we see that this narration of Baihaqi is ‘extremely weak’ and cannot be used as a support. So Albani’s statement that ‘its’ chain is weak’ is a dereliction on his behalf.
