The Fourth Allegation

Muawiyah Took False Oaths, and the Messenger salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam Exposed his Lies

Al Ruyani narrates in his Musnad (1/290) and Ibn ‘Asakir in his Tarikh (59/204) by way of Salamah ibn al Fadl — from Muhammad ibn Ishaq — from ‘Asim ibn ‘Umar ibn Qatadah — from Muhammad ibn Ka’b who said:

We were seated with al Bara’ ibn ‘Azib in the Masjid of al Kufah when a preacher entered, then sat, then began an address, after which he prayed for the general masses, the exclusive class, and then for the khalifah — Muawiyah was the khalifah at the time — so we said to al Bara’: “O Abu Ibrahim, this man entered and prayed for the exclusives, the general masses and then the khalifah. However, we have not heard you saying anything?” So he said, “verily we were present and you were absent, we had knowledge and you were ignorant; once we were with the Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam at Hunayn when a woman came until she stood right before the Messenger of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and said, ‘indeed Abu Sufyan and his son, Muawiyah, have taken a camel of mine and hidden it away from me.’ The Messenger of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam sent a man to Abu Sufyan and Muawiyah instructing them to return this woman’s camel, and they responded — swearing by Allah — that they did not take it nor do they know where it is. The man was sent to them and they responded in the same manner. Thereafter the Messenger salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam became angry until we could see it in his face saying, ‘go to them and tell them, Certainly, By Allah it is with you! Return the camel to this woman!’ Then the Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam went to them and they had made the camel to sit and tied it. Startled, they said, ‘by Allah we did not take it. Rather we went in search of it until we found it,’ so the Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, ‘Go!’”

This is unreliable on the basis of the chain and the content.

In the chain is Salamah ibn al Fadl al Abrash who is weak in hadith. He has many strange and obscure narrations — previous mention has been made of him. Whatever he narrates from Muhammad ibn Ishaq in the genre of Maghazi is better than the rest of what he narrates; although the overall evaluation of his narrations is that he is weak.^{^[1]}

Muhammad ibn Ishaq has narrated with ‘an’anah and not with Sama’. Ibn ‘Asakir pointed out the weakness after narrating it (59/205). He said:

Muhammad ibn Ishaq and Salamah ibn al Fadl have Shi’i leanings.

As for the content: what need would Abu Sufyan and Muawiyah have to steal this lady’s camel when each of them had been given 100 camels by the Messenger of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam on the day of Hunayn, as well as other wealth?!^{^[2]}

NEXT⇒ The Fifth Allegation

^{^[1]} See al Kamil of Ibn ‘Adi (2/210)+

^{^[2]} See al Rowd al Unuf of al Suhayli (3/408).

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