Salafi Research Institute SRI
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
أبو عوانة، قال: شهدت أبا حنيفة وكتب إليه رجل في أشياء فجعل يقول: يقطع يقطع حتى سأله عمن سرق من النخل شيئا فقال: يقطع، فقلت للرجل: لا تكتبن هذا، هذا من زلة العلم، قال لي: وما ذاك؟ قال: قلت: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: لا قطع في ثمر ولا كثر قال: امح ذاك واكتب لا يقطع لا يقطع [السنة لعبد الله (٣٨٠) وسنده صحيح]
Abu ‘Awānah said: “I witnessed Abū Ḥanīfah, and a man wrote to him about some matters. He (Abū Ḥanīfah) began to say: “The hand is to be cut, the hand is to be cut (as punishment for theft)” until he (the man) asked him about someone who stole something from palm trees. He (Abū Ḥanīfah) said: “The hand is to be cut.’ So I said to the man (who was writing): ‘Do not write this down; this is from a scholar’s error.’ He said to me: “And what is that (error)?” I said: “Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said: “There is no cutting (of the hand) for (theft of) fruit nor for palm-spathe.” He (Abū Ḥanīfah) immediately said: “Erase that and write: The hand is not to be cut, the hand is not to be cut.” [al-Sunnah by ‘Abdullāh (380); Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ]
أحمد يعني ابن عبد الرحمن بن وهب قال: سمعت عمي يقول: سمعت مالكا يسأل عن تخليل أصابع الرجلين في الوضوء، فقال: ليس ذلك على الناس. قال: فتركته حتى خف الناس، فقلت له: يا أبا عبد الله، سمعتك تفتي في مسألة في تخليل أصابع الرجلين؛ زعمت أن ليس ذلك على الناس، وعندنا في ذلك سنة. فقال: وما هى؟ فقلت: حدثنا الليث بن سعد وابن لهيعة وعمرو بن الحارث، عن يزيد بن عمرو المعافري، عن أبي عبد الرحمن الحبلي، عن المستورد بن شداد القرشي قال: رأيت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يدلك بخنصره ما بين أصابع رجليه. فقال: إن هذا حديث حسن، وما سمعت به قط إلا الساعة. ثم سمعته يسأل بعد ذلك، فأمر بتخليل الأصابع قال عمى: ما أقل من يتوضأ إلا ويخطئه الخط الذى تحت الإبهام في الرجل، فإن الناس يثنون إبهامهم عند الوضوء، فمن تفقد ذلك سلم. [السنن الكبرى (٣٦٢) والجرح والتعديل (١/٣١) والإرشاد (١/٣٩٩) بأسانيد حسنة]
Aḥmad bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Wahb said that Ibn Wahb said:
I heard Mālik being asked about running fingers between the toes of the feet in Wuḍū and he said: “That is not upon the people (to do).” He (Ibn Wahb) said: So I left him until the crowd lessened, then I said to him: “O Abū ‘Abdullāh, I heard you giving a fatwa about running fingers between the toes, claiming that it is not upon the people while we have a Sunnah regarding that.” He asked: “And what is it?” I said: “al-Layth bin Sa’d, Ibn Lahī’ah, and ‘Amr bin al-Ḥarith narrated to us from Yazīd bin ‘Amr al-Ma’āfirī, from Abū ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Hubuli, from al-Mustawrid bin Shaddād al-Qurashī, who said: ‘I saw Allah’s Messenger ﷺ, rubbing between his toes with his little finger.” He (Mālik) said: “Indeed this Hadith is Ḥasan (good) and I have never heard it at all until this moment.” Then I heard him being asked after that and he ordered running the fingers between the toes. My uncle (Ibn Wahb) said: “How few are those who perform Wuḍū except that they miss the line that is under the big toe of the foot, for people bend their big toes during Wuḍū. So whoever pays attention to that has been saved.” [al-Sunan al-Kubrá (362), al-Jarḥ wa al-Ta’dīl (1/31), and al-Irshād (1/399); Ḥasan asānīd]
قال لنا الشافعي: أنتم أعلم بالحديث والرجال مني فإذا كان الحديث صحيحا فاعلموني إن شاء يكون كوفيا أو بصريا أو شاميا حتى أذهب إليه إذا كان صحيحا [العلل لأحمد (١٠٥٥) وحلية الأولياء ٩/١٨٠ و٩/١٠٦ وتاريخ دمشق من طريق ابن أبي حاتم (٥١/٣٨٥) بأسانيد صحيحة]
Ahmad bin Hanbal said:
al-Shafi’I told us: You are more knowledgeable in Ḥādīth and its men (who narrate it) than me so if you find a Ṣaḥīḥ Ḥādīth then let me know about it whether it is in Kūfā, Baṣrā, Shām so I can go to it as long as it is Ṣaḥīḥ. [al-‘Ilal by Aḥmad (1055), Ḥilyat al-Awliyā (9/180 & 9/106), Tārīkh Dimashq (51/385); Ṣaḥīḥ Asāīd]
This also shows that weak narrations have no weight. Perhaps we will make a post on this topic as well إن شاء الله
ذكر الخلال في كتاب “العلل” أن علي بن سعيد النسائي قال: سألت أحمد بن حنبل عن صلاة التسبيح فقال: لم يصح عندي منها شيء.
فقلت له حديث عبد الله بن عمرو بن العاص. فقال: كل يرويه عن عمرو بن مالك النكري. فقلت: قد رواه أيضاً مستمر بن الريان. فقال: من حدثك؟ قلت: مسلم بن إبراهيم. فقال: مسلم شيخ ثقة، وكأنه أعجبه. [النقد الصحيح لما اعترض من أحاديث المصابيح (ص ٣٢)]
al-Khallāl mentioned in the book “al-‘Ilal” that ‘Ali bin Sa’īd (trustworthy) al-Nasāī said: I asked Aḥmad bin Ḥanbal about Ṣalāt al-Tasbīḥ so he said: “Nothing of it is authentic to me.” So I said to him: “The Hadith of ‘Abdullāh bin ‘Amr bin al-‘Āṣ?” [Mawqūfan, cf. Dhikr Ṣalāt al-Tasbīḥ by al-Khaṭīb 18 with Ḥasan Isnād]. He said: “Everyone narrates it from ‘Amr bin Mālik al-Nukari.” I said: “Mustamir bin al-Rayyān (trustworthy) also narrated it.” He asked: “Who narrated it to you?” I said: “Muslim bin Ibrāhīm.” He said: “Muslim is a trustworthy Shaykh” and it was as if it pleased him (i.e. he found this chain acceptable and retracted his opinion). [al-Naqd al-Ṣaḥīḥ lima i’turida min Aḥādīth al-Maṣābīḥ (p. 32)]
It becomes very clear from the above that no one can claim encompassing of the entire revelation revealed to the prophet ﷺ and no one can claim someone to be infallible. “And over every possessor of knowledge is one (more) knowing.” [12:76] It also shows that these Imams were ready to change their opinions once the evidence came to them so we must do the same.
