A Mistake of Imām al-ʿUqaylī!
Re-examining a fabricated report that was misattributed in al-ʿUqaylī’s al-Ḍuʿafāʾ and tracing how later critics handled its isnād and transmitters.
A close look at al-ʿUqaylī’s entry exposes how a misread kunya spawned a nonexistent narrator and fueled debate over a fabricated report.
Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-ʿUqaylī wrote in al-Ḍuʿafāʾ (3/3):
“ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Suddī from Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind — unknown, not followed up in his ḥadīth, and not known from any authentic route. Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb ibn Yaḥyá ibn al-Ḍurays narrated to us, he said: Jundal ibn Wāliq al-Taghlibī narrated to us, he said: Abū Mālik al-Wāsiṭī narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Suddī, from Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, from Abū Naḍrah, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: ‘Allāh says: Seek the surplus [grace] from the merciful among My servants — you will live under their care, for I have placed My mercy among them. Do not seek it from those whose hearts are hard, for I have placed My wrath among them.’ He is not followed upon this by any sound authority.”
Ibn al-Jawzī followed him in al-Mawḍūʿāt (2/158), citing it from al-ʿUqaylī.
Al-Dhahabī also followed this, saying in al-Mughnī fī al-Ḍuʿafāʾ (2/390): “ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Suddī from Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind — unknown, his report is false. Al-ʿUqaylī mentioned him.”
And in al-Mīzān (4/331): “ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Suddī from Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind — unknown, and he brought a false report.”
Ibn Ḥajar said in Lisān al-Mīzān (3/446):
“Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it in al-Awsaṭ through Muḥammad ibn Marwān al-Suddī from Dāwūd. Likewise, Ibn Ḥibbān in al-Ḍuʿafāʾ (2/286) and al-Kharāʾiṭī in Makārim al-Akhlāq from this route. I suspect that Muḥammad ibn Marwān was kunya’d Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, and it occurred in al-ʿUqaylī’s narration as ‘Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Suddī,’ then the ‘Abū’ dropped, leaving just ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Thus, this biographical entry does not exist. Moreover, Muḥammad ibn Marwān was not alone; ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Khiṭṭāb and ʿAbd al-Ghaffār [1] ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Dīnār also followed him. And it has a witness from ʿAlī’s narration in the Mustadrak of al-Ḥākim. As for al-Ḥusaynī, I read in his own hand that al-Dhahabī erred in isolating it, and that it is actually ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Karīmah, the father of Ismāʿīl al-Suddī the well-known tābiʿī. But al-Ḥusaynī was incorrect; for Ismāʿīl is older than Dāwūd, let alone his father.”
I say: What Ibn Ḥajar suspected is in fact certain. For Abū al-Shaykh narrated it in Ṭabaqāt al-Muḥaddithīn bi-Iṣfahān (3/285), and Abū Nuʿaym in Tārīkh Iṣfahān (2/318), from the route of Hammām ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Nuʿmān, who said: Jundal ibn Wāliq narrated to us, who said: Abū Mālik al-Wāsiṭī narrated to us, from Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Suddī, from Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, with it.
Al-Ṭabarānī also narrated it in al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ (5/76), saying:
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muʿāwiyah al-ʿUtubī narrated to us, who said: Mūsá ibn Muḥammad al-Balqāwī narrated to us, who said: Muḥammad ibn Marwān al-Suddī narrated to us, from Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, from Abū Naḍrah, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, who said: The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said: ‘Seek grace from the merciful among my Ummah — you will live under their care. Do not seek it from those whose hearts are hard, for they await My wrath.’
Al-Ṭabarānī said: “None narrated this ḥadīth from Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind except Muḥammad ibn Marwān. Mūsá ibn Muḥammad alone transmitted it.”
Al-Quḍāʿī narrated it in Musnad al-Shihāb (1/406) through al-Kharāʾiṭī, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muʿāwiyah al-ʿUtubī, from Mūsá ibn Muḥammad, from Muḥammad ibn Marwān and ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Khiṭṭāb, who both said: Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind narrated to us, then he mentioned it.
Then he also narrated it from ʿAbd al-Ghaffār ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Dīnār, from Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, with it. Then he said: “ʿAbd al-Ghaffār ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Dīnār was alone in narrating it! It is strange.”
Tamām al-Rāzī narrated it in al-Fawāʾid (2/74):
Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Faḍālah narrated to us, who said: al-Rabīʿ ibn Sulaymān al-Murādī narrated to us, who said: Abū Khāzim ʿAbd al-Ghaffār ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Dīnār narrated to us, who said: Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind narrated to me, the same.
Tamām said: “Thus it was in Ibn Faḍālah’s book. Others narrated it with an extra man inserted between Abū Khāzim and Dāwūd.”
I say: This ḥadīth is false. These follow-ups do not benefit it, for they are chained together by weak and accused narrators. Muḥammad ibn Mūsá al-Balqāwī is a liar — he is the one narrating from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Khiṭṭāb. As for ʿAbd al-Malik, his state is obscure, but the blame is not on him — rather on his transmitter, this al-Balqāwī. Likewise, Muḥammad ibn Marwān al-Suddī is abandoned, and his transmitter Abū Mālik al-Wāsiṭī is also abandoned (al-Ḍuʿafāʾ waʾl-Matrūkīn of Ibn al-Jawzī, 3/238). As for ʿAbd al-Ghaffār ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Dīnār, Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī (in al-Jarḥ waʾl-Taʿdīl 6/54) and Ibn Ḥibbān (in al-Thiqāt 8/421) were lenient with him. But the majority declared him weak, even accusing him. Al-Saʿdī said: “His ḥadīth is not considered.” Ibn ʿAdī said: “His aḥādīth are unpreserved” (al-Kāmil 5/328). Al-Azdī said: “A liar” (al-Ḍuʿafāʾ waʾl-Matrūkīn of Ibn al-Jawzī 2/112). The correct view is that he was weak, seemingly hearing from weak and lying narrators then dropping them in his transmission. And Allāh knows best.
As for the witness Ibn Ḥajar referred to: al-Ḥākim narrated it in al-Mustadrak (4/357) through Ḥibbān ibn ʿAlī, from Saʿd ibn Ṭarīf, from al-Aṣbagh ibn Nubātah, from ʿAlī (raḍiy Allāhu ʿanhu), who said: The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:
“O ʿAlī, seek good from the merciful among my Ummah — you will live under their care. Do not seek it from those whose hearts are hard, for the curse descends upon them. O ʿAlī, verily Allāh created goodness and created for it people. He made it beloved to them, and made its practice beloved to them, and directed seekers towards them — just as water flows in fertile land, bringing it to life along with its people. O ʿAlī, the people of goodness in this world are the people of goodness in the Hereafter.”
Al-Ḥākim said: “This ḥadīth has a ṣaḥīḥ isnād, though they (al-Bukhārī and Muslim) did not narrate it.”
Al-Dhahabī refuted him: “Al-Aṣbagh is weak, and Ḥibbān was also deemed weak.”
Note:
[1] In the original it appeared as “ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz,” and likewise in Abū Ghuddah’s edition of Lisān (5/153), but this is a mistake. The correct name is ʿAbd al-Ghaffār ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Dīnār, Abū Khāzim — with khāʾ, as Ibn Mākūlā recorded.
Written by: Khālid al-Ḥāyik — 25 Dhū al-Ḥijjah 1428 AH.