The Life of the Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Kathir - Volume 1 of 4

136 THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD
Ibn 'Adi related it with a complete transmission chain as follows, "Ahmad b.
Hafv related to us, as did Muhammad b. Aba 'Amr d-'Adani al-Makki, as did
Muhammad b. Jacfar b. Muhammad b. 'Ali b. al-Husayn, saying, 'My father
testified to me, on the authority of his father and his grandfather, as having
heard from CAli b. Aba Talib that the Prophet (SAAS) said, "I was the product
of true marriage, not fornication, from Adam right on up to when my father and
mother had me. And I was not at all tainted by the fornication of the
j~hiliyya." "'
This is a strange tradition from this line of transmission and can scarcely be
credited.
Hushaym said, "Al-Madini related to me, from Abii d-Huwayrith, from Ibn
'Abbas, that the Messenger of God (SAAS) said, 'Nothing of the fornication of
the j~hiliyya was born in me; I was born from nothing but a true marriage, just
like the true marriage of Islam."'
This too is strange. The h~fi? Ibn 'As& passed it on, then substantiated it
by a tradition of Abii Hurayra, and there is weakness in its transmission from
hi. But God knows best.
Muhammad b. Sacd said, "Muhammad b. Wmar informed us, quoting
Muhammad b. CAbd Allah b. Muslim, from his uncle d-Zuhri, from Wrwa,
from 'A'isha who said that the Messenger of God (SAAS) said, 'I was born from
a true marriage, not fornication."'
Moreover Ibn 'Asair passed down from a tradition of Aba 'Asim, from
Shabib, from Qrima, from Ibn 'Abba who with reference to the Qur'anic verse
"your ever-changing presence among those who prostrate in prayer" (sliraf
al-Shu'ar~", XXVI, v.219) quoted the Prophet as saying, "from prophet to
prophet until I was brought forth as a prophet." He related this on the authority
of CAR'.
Muhammad b. Sa'd said, "Hisham b. Muhammad al-Kalbi informed us, from
his father who said, 'I wrote out some 500 maternal ancestors for the Prophet
(SAAS) and found fornication in not one of them, nor anything relating to (the
evil ways) of thej~hiliyya."'
It is established in the jahih collection of al-BukhW from a hadith of 'Amr h.
Abn 'Amr from Sacid d-Maqbui, from Aha Hurayra who said, "The
Messenger of God (SAAS) stated, 'I was sent on through the best of generations
of humankind, age after age, until I received my mission in the century in which
I lived."'
In the ~ahih of Muslim, from a tradition of al-Awza'i from Shaddad Aba
CAmma, from Wathila b. al-Asqa', comes the statement of the Messenger of
God (SAAS): "God chose Ishmael from the children of Abraham, Banii Kinma
from the tribe of Ishmael, Quraysh from the tribe of Kinma, Banti Hashim from
Quraysh, and myself from Bana Hashi."