The muhaddithun have compiled books on the status of the narrators of hadith. They have arranged these books from many different perspectives. One method is listing all the weak narrators in one book. They name such books ‘Ad-Dhu’afaa’ which means ‘the weak ones’. Imam Bukhari, Nasai, Ibn A’di, Uqaili and others have complied books with this title.
Placing a narrator in this compilation indicates that he or she is weak according to the author. However, not all the time is a listed narrator weak according to the author. Sometimes he lists a narrator due to others considering him weak, but then shows with evidences that the accused narrator is not weak in reality. Similarly, they may indicate to a weakness found in the chain leading up to a narrator and not the narrator himself. For instance, Imam Bukhari sometimes list a narrator and then makes the remark ‘لا يصح حديثه’ which literarily means that ‘his hadith is not authentic’. Some people have misunderstood this to mean that the narrator himself is weak. This is due to misunderstanding Bukhari’s terminology in using this phrase in his ‘Ad-Dhuaafaa’.
Sometimes Imam Bukhari simply means that a specific narration of his is weak (due to some external factors) and not the narrator himself that was listed. Sometimes he means that the chain leading up to the narrator is weak. For instance Bukhari states in his ‘Ad-Dhu’afaa’:
أخنس سمع الحديث من بن مسعود روى عنه بكير ولم يصح حديثه
“Akhnas: He heard hadith from Ibn Masud. Bukair narrated from him. His hadith is not authentic.”[i]
Ibn Abi Hatim mentioned his father’s criticism of Imam Bukhari by stating:
“I heard my father criticizing the one that listed him (Akhnas) in the book ‘Ad-Dhu’afaa’. He said, ‘I do not know of (any chain) transmitted from Akhnas except what Abu Janab Yahya ibn Abi Haiyyah Al-Kufi narrated from Bukair ibn Akhnas from his father. If Abu Janad is slightly weak, (still) what is the sin of Akhnas the father of Bukair? Bukair is reliable (thiqah) according to the people of knowledge. There is no hadith narrated by an (unreliable person from) a reliable person from his father that necessitates weakening his father without evidence.”[ii]
So the great muhaddith Abu Hatim is saying that Akhnas and his son Bukair are both reliable narrators. Yes, Akhnas’s narrations come through Abu Janad from Bukair, but in no way can that cause Akhnas to become weak. Therefore Bukhari should not list Akhnas in his book of weak narrators, ‘Ad-Dhu’afaa’.
However Allamah Abur Rahman Al-Muallimi points out that this criticism is out of place and this is due to misunderstanding Bukhari’s istilaah (terminology). By this statement, Bukhari is not disparaging the narrator Akhnas, rather he is indicating that there is only one chain that leads up to him and it is weak due to the weak narrator in it.
And Bukhari has the right to make his own terminologies for his books as the famous saying goes:
‘لا مشاحة في الاصطلاح’
‘Terminologies are undisputable’.[iii]
This also explains why Imam Bukhari has listed some Sahabah in his ‘Ad-Dhu’afaa’. Ibn Adi who was a student of Imam Bukhari’s student explains in his own compilation of weak narrators known as ‘Al-Kaamil fid Dhu’afaa’:
“Every Sahabi that I have mentioned in this book, Bukhari has criticized the chain that led up to that particular Sahabi, that the chain is not memorized, there is a dispute in it. It does not mean that he was disparaging the Sahabi. All the Sahabah, due to the right of their companionship and due to they being at the forefront of Islam, each one of them has a right and honour in himself. They are above being criticized by anyone.”[iv]
Allamah Zahabi also indicated to this principle in the introduction of his compilation of weak narrators called ‘Mizanul E’tidaal’.[v] Hafiz Ibn Hajr also pointed out this terminology of Bukhari in his compilation of weak narrators called ‘Lisaanul Mizaan’.[vi]
The following is an example where Imam Bukhari is classifying a particular hadith of the narrator as weak and not necessarily the narrator himself.
سعيد بن بشير : عن محمد بن عبد الرحمن البيلماني, روى عنه الليث لا يصح حديثه
“Saeed ibn Bashir: (Narrates) from Muhammad ibn Abdir Rahman Al-bailamani. Laith narrated from him. His hadith is not authentic.” [Ad-Dhu’afaa Sagheer #130 Pg.51]
Ibn A’di points out in his ‘Al-Kaamil’ that Imam Bukhari is indicating to the weakness of a hadith narrated through him.[vii] The hadith is as follows:
عن الليث عن سعيد بن بشير النجارى عن محمد بن عبد الرحمن البيلمانى – قال الربيع ابن البيلمانى – عن أبيه عن ابن عباس عن رسول الله –صلى الله عليه وسلم- أنه قال « من قال حين يصبح ( فسبحان الله حين تمسون وحين تصبحون وله الحمد فى السموات والأرض وعشيا وحين تظهرون) إلى (وكذلك تخرجون) أدرك ما فاته فى يومه ذلك ومن قالهن حين يمسى أدرك ما فاته فى ليلته ».
This hadith has two narrators that are weak, namely, Muhammad ibn Abdir Rahman Al-Bai-lamani and his father. The first has been classified extremely weak by giants like Ibn Maeen, Humaidi, Bukhari, Nasai, Abu Hatim and others. His father has also been criticized by Bazzar, Abu Hatim, Darqutni and others. Munziri has also classified this hadith weak due to these two narrators.[viii]
Therefore Abu Hatim’s criticism of Bukhari for placing Saeed ibn Bashir in his ‘Ad-Dhu’afa’ is out of place once again. May Allah have mercy on all the scholars of Islam.
This shows the importance of studying the terminologies of each muhaddith. Simply knowing Arabic is not sufficient as the literal translations of these phrases are not meant in many instances. The great muhaddith of our time, Shaikh Muhmmad Awwamah has discussed this terminology of Bukhari in his footnotes on ‘Al-Kaashif’[ix] and on ‘Musannaf ibn Abi Shaibah.’[x] Refer to them for further details.
And Allah knows best.
[i] #37 Pg.25
[ii] Al-Jarh Wat Ta’deel Vol.2 Pg.345
[iii] Muallimi on Al-Jarh wat Ta’deel
[iv] Vol.4 Pg.163
[v] Vol.1 Pg.2
[vi] Vol.5 Pg.109 #4643
[vii] Vol.4 Pg.442
[viii] See Bazlul Majhood Vol.13 Pg.471, Awnul Ma’bood Vol.13 Pg.283 and Tahzeebul Kamaal with Shaikh Basshaar’s Ta’leeq
[ix] Vol.2 Pg.473 #1859
[x] Vol.7 Pg.625-628 #12743
