Hadith 124: Two men came to ‘Umar asking him about an issue concerning the divorce of a slave. He came to the end of the gathering where there was a bald man.
Hadith 123: I was with the Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam when he was asked about ‘Ali. He said, “Wisdom was divided into ten parts; ‘Ali was given nine parts and everyone else shared the remaining one part.”
January 31, 2019Hadith 125: My anger and the anger of Allah intensifies against a person who causes my blood to flow and harms my ‘itrah (family).
February 1, 2019BACK⇒ Return to Table of contents
Hadith 124
أتى عمر رجلان فسألاه عن طلاق العبد، فانتهى إلى حلقة فيها رجل أصلع، فقال: يا أصلع كم طلاق العبد؟ فقال له بأصبعيه هكذا، وحرك السبابة والتي تليها، فالتفت إليه فقال: اثنتين، فقال أحدهما: سبحان الله جئناك وأنت أمير المؤمنين فسألناك، فجئت إلى رجل والله ما كلمك، قال: ويلك! تدري من هذا؟ هذا علي بن أبي طالب، سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول: لو أن السماوات والأرضين وضعتا في كفة، ووضع إيمان علي في كفة لرجح إيمان علي.
Two men came to ‘Umar asking him about an issue concerning the divorce of a slave. He came to the end of the gathering where there was a bald man. He said, “O bald man, how many divorces does a slave have?” The man responded to him by moving his index and middle fingers. He turned to him and said, “Two.” One of the two men said, “Subhan Allah. We came to you as Amir al Muʾminin and asked you. You went to a man and, by Allah, he did not even speak to you (he simply indicated with his fingers).” He said, “Woe unto you! Do you know who this is? This is ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib. I heard the Messenger of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam say, ‘If the Heavens and the worlds were placed on one side of a scale and the iman of ‘Ali was placed on the other side, the iman of ‘Ali would be weightier.’”
This hadith is narrated by Ibn al Maghazili — Ahmed ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab ibn Tawan informed us ijazatan (he authorized us to narrate this hadith) — Abu Ahmed ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Shawdhab al Muqriʾ informed us — Muhammad ibn ‘Uthman narrated to us — Muhammad ibn Sulaiman narrated to us — Jafar ibn Muhammad ibn Hakim narrated to us — from Ibrahim ibn ‘Abdul Hamid — from Raqabah ibn Masqalah ibn ‘Abdullah — from his father — from his grandfather…[1]
This chain of transmission is batil (false). It contains numerous majhul (unknown) narrators and its matn (text) is munkar (unacceptable).
I have mentioned previously that Ibn al Maghazili is da’if (weak).
His teacher was careless in hadith.
Muhammad ibn ‘Uthman and everyone above him could not be traced.
Raqabah ibn Masqalah is a thiqah (reliable); however, his father could not be traced.
Ibn ‘Asakir also narrates this version of the hadith.[2] However, most of the narrators in the chain of transmission are unidentifiable.
Ibn ‘Asakir narrates this hadith in another place with a chain of transmission that is saqit (wholly unreliable), as I have explained in the original work.[3]
In short, the hadith is mawdu’ (fabricated). Sheer fanaticism and extremism caused someone to fabricate this hadith. All of its chains of transmission revolved around unknown and disastrous narrators.
[1] Ibn al Maghazili: Manaqib ‘Ali, hadith no. 330.
[2] Ibn ‘Asakir: Tarikh Dimashq, 42/340.
[3] Ibid., 42/341.
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Hadith 124
أتى عمر رجلان فسألاه عن طلاق العبد، فانتهى إلى حلقة فيها رجل أصلع، فقال: يا أصلع كم طلاق العبد؟ فقال له بأصبعيه هكذا، وحرك السبابة والتي تليها، فالتفت إليه فقال: اثنتين، فقال أحدهما: سبحان الله جئناك وأنت أمير المؤمنين فسألناك، فجئت إلى رجل والله ما كلمك، قال: ويلك! تدري من هذا؟ هذا علي بن أبي طالب، سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول: لو أن السماوات والأرضين وضعتا في كفة، ووضع إيمان علي في كفة لرجح إيمان علي.
Two men came to ‘Umar asking him about an issue concerning the divorce of a slave. He came to the end of the gathering where there was a bald man. He said, “O bald man, how many divorces does a slave have?” The man responded to him by moving his index and middle fingers. He turned to him and said, “Two.” One of the two men said, “Subhan Allah. We came to you as Amir al Muʾminin and asked you. You went to a man and, by Allah, he did not even speak to you (he simply indicated with his fingers).” He said, “Woe unto you! Do you know who this is? This is ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib. I heard the Messenger of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam say, ‘If the Heavens and the worlds were placed on one side of a scale and the iman of ‘Ali was placed on the other side, the iman of ‘Ali would be weightier.’”
This hadith is narrated by Ibn al Maghazili — Ahmed ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab ibn Tawan informed us ijazatan (he authorized us to narrate this hadith) — Abu Ahmed ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Shawdhab al Muqriʾ informed us — Muhammad ibn ‘Uthman narrated to us — Muhammad ibn Sulaiman narrated to us — Jafar ibn Muhammad ibn Hakim narrated to us — from Ibrahim ibn ‘Abdul Hamid — from Raqabah ibn Masqalah ibn ‘Abdullah — from his father — from his grandfather…[1]
This chain of transmission is batil (false). It contains numerous majhul (unknown) narrators and its matn (text) is munkar (unacceptable).
I have mentioned previously that Ibn al Maghazili is da’if (weak).
His teacher was careless in hadith.
Muhammad ibn ‘Uthman and everyone above him could not be traced.
Raqabah ibn Masqalah is a thiqah (reliable); however, his father could not be traced.
Ibn ‘Asakir also narrates this version of the hadith.[2] However, most of the narrators in the chain of transmission are unidentifiable.
Ibn ‘Asakir narrates this hadith in another place with a chain of transmission that is saqit (wholly unreliable), as I have explained in the original work.[3]
In short, the hadith is mawdu’ (fabricated). Sheer fanaticism and extremism caused someone to fabricate this hadith. All of its chains of transmission revolved around unknown and disastrous narrators.
[1] Ibn al Maghazili: Manaqib ‘Ali, hadith no. 330.
[2] Ibn ‘Asakir: Tarikh Dimashq, 42/340.
[3] Ibid., 42/341.