An Error by Ibn Ḥibbān Due to a Scribal Corruption in His Copy of al-Bukhārī’s Tārīkh, and a Corruption in the Printed Edition of the Tārīkh

Ibn Ḥibbān said in al-Thiqāt (5/413):

“Muʿāwiyah ibn Muʿattib al-Hudhalī narrates from Abū Hurayrah. He is counted among the people of al-Baṣrah. Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd narrated from him.”

This is how it appears in the printed edition, but the correct wording is: “Sālim ibn Abī Sālim.”

Ibn Ḥibbān also erred by counting him among the people of al-Baṣrah, whereas he was actually Egyptian.

Al-Bukhārī said in al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr (7/331):

“Muʿāwiyah ibn Muʿattib al-Hudhalī—he was under the care of Abū Hurayrah. He is counted among the Basrans. He heard from Abū Hurayrah, and Sālim ibn Abī Sālim narrated from him.”

I say: This is how it appears in the printed edition of al-Bukhārī’s Tārīkh, and it is incorrect. The correct wording is: “He is counted among the Egyptians.”

Ibn Ḥibbān relies heavily on al-Bukhārī in his biographical entries. Thus, when he found it corrupted as “among the Basrans,” he said: “He is counted among the people of al-Baṣrah,” in accordance with his habit of rephrasing al-Bukhārī’s wording. For example, if al-Bukhārī says: “He is counted among the Kufans,” Ibn Ḥibbān will say: “He is from the people of Kūfah,” and so on.

What confirms that the correct wording in al-Bukhārī’s Tārīkh is “among the Egyptians” is what Ibn Abī Ḥātim and Ibn Mākūlā mentioned, since both rely on al-Bukhārī’s Tārīkh.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim said in al-Jarḥ wa’l-Taʿdīl (8/379):

“Muʿāwiyah ibn ʿUtbah al-Hudhalī, Egyptian. It is also said: Ibn Muʿattib. He was under the care of Abū Hurayrah. Sālim ibn Abī Sālim narrated from him.”
I heard my father say this.

Ibn Mākūlā said in al-Ikmāl (7/216):

“Muʿāwiyah ibn Muʿattib al-Hudhalī was under the care of Abū Hurayrah. He is counted among the Egyptians. He heard from Abū Hurayrah, and Sālim ibn Abī Sālim al-Jayshānī narrated from him.”

I say: This is the complete and correct wording of al-Bukhārī.

Further evidence for this is that Ibn Ḥajar نقل the objection of one of his teachers against Ibn Ḥibbān in Taʿjīl al-Manfaʿah, without objecting to al-Bukhārī. Had the corruption been in al-Bukhārī’s original text, he would have pointed it out, especially since he explicitly referred to al-Bukhārī’s entry on this Muʿāwiyah.

Likewise, al-Bukhārī said in al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr (4/111):

“Sālim ibn Abī Sālim al-Jayshānī al-Miṣrī, narrating from his father and from Muʿāwiyah ibn Muʿattib. Narrated from him are Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb and al-Ḥārith ibn Yaʿqūb.”

Ibn Ḥibbān followed him in al-Thiqāt (6/408) and said:

“Sālim ibn Abī Sālim al-Jayshānī, from the people of Egypt, narrates from his father from Abū Dharr, and from Muʿāwiyah ibn Muʿattib from Abū Hurayrah.”

In summary, he is Egyptian, and it appears that the corruption occurred in the copy of the Tārīkh used by Ibn Ḥibbān, just as it has occurred in the printed edition that we have today. And Allah knows best and is Most Wise.

Written by: Khālid al-Ḥāyik
30/6/2008 CE