Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth

xxxvi
The Life of Muhammad
Abii Mu'iiwiya: A great memory: others confided their traditions to
his memory for safe keeping.
aI- Bukhiiri: AI-Zuhri used to get his knowledge of the maghiizi from I.I.
'Abdullah b. Idris al-Audi: was amazed at his learning and often cited
him.
Mu~'ab:
He was attacked for reasons which had nothing to do with
tradition.
Yazid b. Harlin: Were there asupreme relator of tradition it would be 1.1.
Ali b. aI-Madini: His ahadith are sound. He had a great reputation in
Medina. Hisham b. (Urwa's objection to him is no argument against
him. He may indeed have talked to the latter's wife when he was a
young man. His veracity in hadith is self-evident. I know only of
two that are rejected as unsupported' which no other writer reported.
aI-'Ijli: Trustworthy.
Ya!).ya b. Ma'in: Firm in tradition.
AJ.1mad b. !:Ianbal: Excellent in tradition.
(b) The writer then goes on to state all that has been said against I.I.
Omitting details of little significance we are left with the following charges
which 1. Sayyidu'l-Niis goes on to discuss and refute. Muhammad b.
'Abdullah b. Numayr said that when 1.1. reported what he had heard from
well-known persons his traditions were good and true, but he sometimes
reported worthless sayings from unknown people. Yal,1ya b. al-Qa\liin
would never quote him. Al,1mad b. !:Ianbal quoted him with approval, and
when it was remarked how excellent the stories (qi~llf) were he smiled in
surprise. His son admitted that Al,imad incorporated many of I.I.'s
traditions in his Musnad, but he never paid heed to them. When he was
asked if his father regarded him as an authority on what a Muslim must
or must not do he replied that he did not. He himself would not accept a
tradition which only 1.1. reported. He used to relate a tradition which he
gathered from a number of people without indicating who had contributed
its separate parts. I. al-Madini said' that at times he was 'fairly good'.
AI-Maymiini reported that 1. Ma'in 156--233 said he was 'weak', but others
denied that he~aid so. AI-Diiri said he was trustworthy but not to be used
as an authority mfiqh, like Malik and others. AI-Nasa'i said that he was not
strong. AI-Daraqutni said that a tradition from 1.1. on the authority of his
father was no legal proof: it could be used only to confirm what was already
held to be binding. Yal,1ya b. Sa'id said that though he knew 1.1. in Kiifa
he abandoned him intentionally and never wrote down traditions on his
authority. Abii Da'iid aI-Tayalisi (131-203) reported that !:Iammad b.
Salima .said that unless necessity demanded it he would not hand on a
tradition from 1.1. When Malik b. Anas mentioned him he said, 'he is one
of the antichrists'. When Hisham b. 'Vrwa was told that 1.1. reported
something from Fatima he said, 'the rascal lies ; when did he see my wife?'
I
These probably belong to the Sunan.
Introduction
xxxvii
When Abd~lIah b. A1,lmad told his father ofthis he said that this was not to
be ~eld agamst 1.1.; he thought that he might well have received permission
to InteIVlew her, but he did not know. He added that Malik I'
I Id • 'd h h was alar.
" flS sal t at e talked to Malik about the Maghtizf and how 1.1. had
sald t~at he was their surgeon and he said, 'We drove him from Medina'
Makkl b. Ibrahim sai~ that he a~tended lectures of his; he used to dye hi~
~. When he mentIoned traditIOns about the divine attributes he left
~ and never went back. On another occasion he said that when he left
him he had attended twelve lectures of his in Ray.
AI-MufaMai b., ?hassiin said th~t he was present when Yazid b. Harlin
~as ~elatmg tradItIons m al-Baqi when a number of Medinans were
listen~g. When h~ mentioned U. they withdrew saying: 'Don't tell us
anything that he saId. We know better than he.' Yazid went among them
but they would not listen and so he withdrew.
'
.Abu Da'ud said that he heard Al,1mad b. !:Ianbal say that U. was a man
With alove.oftraditIon, so that he took other men's writings andincorporated
~em m his Own. Abii 'Abdullah said that he preferred I.I. to Musa b.
Vbayda aI-Ra~adht AJ.1m~d said that he used to relate traditions as though
from a com~anIOn Without mtermediaries, while in Ibrahim b. Sa'd's book
w?e~ the~e IS a tradition he said'A told me' and when that was not so he
Sald A said'.
Abu 'Abdullah said.that 1.1. came to Baghdad and paid no attention to
those ~ho related hadlth from al-Kalbi and others saying that he was no
auth.oflty. AI-F~lliis (d. 249) said that after being with Wahb b. Jarir
readmg before him the maghiizi book which his father' had got from 1.1.
w,e met Ya\>ya b. Qalliin who said that we had brought a pack of lies from
hIm.
Al,1mad b. ,!:Ianbal said that in magluizi and such matters what 1.1. said
could be WrItten down; but in legal matters further confirmation was
~ec:ssary. In spit~ of the large number of traditions without a proper
lS1lad he thought hIghly of hIm as long as he said'A told us' 'B informed
me', and II heard:. ~..Ma·i~ did not like to use him as a~ authority in
legal matters. ,,?:bu !:Iatlm said that he was weak in tradition yet preferable
to Afla!).. b. Sa Id.and ~IS tradItIOns could be written down. Sulayman
aI-Tayml ~alled .hlm a har and Ya\>ya al-Qallan said that he could only
ab~?on hIS hadlth t? Go~; he was a liar, When Ya\>ya asked WuliaYb b.
Khahd what made htm thmk that 1.1. was a liar he said that Malik Swore
that he wa,S and he gave as his reason Hisham b. 'Vrwa's oath to that effect.
Tht I~tter s reason ,,:as th,at he reported traditions from his wife Fatima.
Abu .B~r aI-Khatib saId that some authorities accepted his traditions
as provldmg proof for legal precedent while others did not. Among the
reasOns for r~jecting his authority was that he was a Shi'i, that he was said
to hold t.he vIew that man had free will, and that his isniids were defective.
As for hIS truthfulness, it could not be denied.
1 See No.8.