An Error in al-Mustadrak, Ibn Ḥajar’s Claim of Error against al-Ḥākim, and the Refutation of That Claim

Al-Ḥākim said in al-Mustadrak (1/307, ʿAbd al-Qādir ʿAṭā edition; and 1/194, the Indian edition):

Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb narrated to us; he said: al-ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad al-Dūrī narrated to us; he said: Abū Nuʿaym al-Faḍl ibn Dukayn narrated to us; he said: ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Usayd narrated to us, from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbbād ibn Jaʿfar the muʾadhdhin, that he heard Abū Hurayrah report that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ told them:
“Jibrīl came to him and prayed with him the prayers at two times—except Maghrib. He said: He came to me and prayed with me at the time the sun set, then he came to me the next day and prayed with me at the time the sun set, without changing it.”

Al-Ḥākim said: “This is a ḥadīth with a sound chain, and they (al-Bukhārī and Muslim) did not narrate it, for they did not narrate from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbbād ibn Jaʿfar.”

I say: What appears in the printed edition as “Muḥammad ibn ʿAbbād ibn Jaʿfar the muʾadhdhin” is an error. The correct name is Muḥammad ibn ʿAmmār ibn Saʿd the muʾadhdhin.

Ibn Ḥajar mentioned al-Ḥākim’s ḥadīth in al-Ithāf no. (19941), then said: “He erred in it; rather, it is with Abū Nuʿaym via Muḥammad ibn ʿAmmār ibn Saʿd. And his statement that the two Shaykhs did not narrate from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbbād ibn Jaʿfar is an error on his part, for they did narrate from him.”

I say: I do not think that al-Ḥākim erred here. Rather, this is a scribal corruption in the early manuscripts. This is because al-Ḥākim explicitly described him as the muʾadhdhin, and Muḥammad ibn ʿAbbād ibn Jaʿfar is not known by this description, whereas the one known as the muʾadhdhin is Muḥammad ibn ʿAmmār ibn Saʿd.

The likelihood of corruption is strong, since ʿAmmār closely resembles ʿAbbād, and Saʿd closely resembles Jaʿfar in early script. Accordingly, there is no need to fault al-Ḥākim by saying that the two Shaykhs did not narrate from him; rather, al-Ḥākim intended that they did not narrate from the muʾadhdhin, namely Muḥammad ibn ʿAmmār ibn Saʿd—and that is correct, for they indeed did not narrate from him.

This ḥadīth was narrated by al-Bayhaqī in al-Sunan al-Kubrā (1/369) from al-Ḥākim with the same chain, without naming Muḥammad in the narration; then al-Bayhaqī said: “Muḥammad is ibn ʿAmmār ibn Saʿd the muʾadhdhin.”

It was also narrated by al-Dāraquṭnī in al-Sunan (1/261) via al-ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad, and in its chain appears: “Muḥammad ibn ʿAmmār ibn Saʿd the muʾadhdhin.”

Al-Bukhārī said in al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr (1/185):

“Muḥammad ibn ʿAmmār ibn Saʿd the muʾadhdhin al-Quraẓī, al-Madanī: he heard Abū Hurayrah (report) that the Prophet ﷺ told them that Jibrīl came to him and prayed with him the prayers at two times—two times—except Maghrib.”
Abū Nuʿaym told it to us; he said: ʿAbdullāh ibn Nāfiʿ narrated to us; he said: ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Usayd narrated to us.

Written by: Khālid al-Ḥāyik
23 Shaʿbān 1429 AH