Errors of Shaykh al-Albānī!

Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim narrated in as-Sunnah (no. 1146):

Muḥammad ibn ʿAwf narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Ibrāhīm narrated to us; ʿAbdullāh ibn Sālim narrated to us, from az-Zubaydī: Ḥumayd narrated to me that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAwf told him that he heard Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih say that he heard ʿĀṣim ibn Ḥumayd say:

“Abū Dharr said: I went out seeking the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ in one of the orchards of Madīnah. I found the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ sitting, so Abū Dharr came toward him until he greeted the Prophet ﷺ. Abū Dharr said: There were pebbles placed in front of him. He took them into his hand and they glorified (Allāh) in his hand. Then he put them on the ground and they fell silent. Then he took them and placed them in the hand of Abū Bakr, and they glorified in his hand. Then he took them and put them on the ground and they fell silent. Then he took them and placed them in the hand of ʿUmar, and they glorified in his hand. Then he took them and put them on the ground and they fell silent. Then he took them and placed them in the hand of ʿUthmān, and they glorified. Then he took them and put them on the ground, and they fell silent.”

Shaykh al-Albānī said in Ẓilāl al-Jannah (2/543):

“A ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīth. The men of its chain are trustworthy except ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Ibrāhīm, who is Abū Taqī; he has some weakness due to his memory, but he has been followed up. And ʿAbd Rabbih apparently is Ibn Saʿīd ibn Qays al-Anṣārī al-Madanī, who died in the year 140. If that is so, then it is from the narration of seniors from juniors, since Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAwf—Abū ʿUthmān al-Madanī—died in 95, and it was said 105.”

I say

The ḥadīth is narrated by Ḥumayd — who is the son of ʿAbdullāh — from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAwf al-Jurashī, as is clear in the chain; and likewise it appears in al-Ṭabarānī’s Musnad ash-Shāmiyyīn (3/79, no. 1837).

It seems that when the Shaykh commented on the ḥadīth, the chain became distorted for him and turned into: “Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAwf”! Thus he thought it was Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf al-Zuhrī, Abū Ibrāhīm—also said Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, and said Abū ʿUthmān—the Madinan, brother of Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (d. 95 AH), and the one who said he died in 105 AH was mistaken.

But the narrator from ʿAbd Rabbih is “ibn Abī ʿAwf”. The Shaykh did not notice the particle of the kunya (Abī), which does not exist in the name “Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf.”

So the ḥadīth is: from Ḥumayd, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAwf, and Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAwf has nothing to do with it.

As for his statement: “And ʿAbd Rabbih apparently is Ibn Saʿīd ibn Qays al-Anṣārī al-Madanī who died in 140”—this is incorrect. The one who narrates from him, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAwf, died between the years 101–110 AH, while ʿAbd Rabbih died in 139 AH, and the chain is Syrian, not Madinan.

This narrator is “Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih”, and the word “ibn” fell out of the text of as-Sunnah, but it is established in al-Ṭabarānī’s Musnad ash-Shāmiyyīn (no. 1873) and in Ibn ʿAsākir’s Tārīkh (39/119): “Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih.”

Al-Bukhārī mentioned him in at-Tārīkh al-Kabīr (8/442):

“Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih. Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm said to us: ʿUmar and Ibn al-Ḥārith ibn aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk az-Zubaydī narrated to us; they said: ʿAbdullāh ibn Sālim narrated to us from az-Zubaydī; he said: Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbdullāh narrated to us that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAwf told him that he heard Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih say that he heard ʿĀṣim ibn Ḥumayd say: Abū Dharr used to say: I sought…”

Abū Ḥātim ar-Rāzī followed him, as found in al-Jarḥ wa’t-Taʿdīl (9/324), where his son said:

“Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih ash-Shāmī. He narrated from ʿĀṣim ibn Ḥumayd from Abū Dharr. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAwf narrated from him. I heard my father say that.”

I say: He is a Syrian narrator who is unknown (majhūl).