From the Hidden Defects of the Ḥadīths of Wijādah

Few examples showcase the pitfalls of wijādah more clearly than the Laylat al-Qadr narration attributed to Shuʿbah through Muḥammad ibn Abī Shaybah.

Written by: Khālid al-Ḥāyik

Al-Ṭabarānī narrated in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (2/220, no. 1906) from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, and in al-Muʿjam al-Ṣaghīr (1/180, no. 285) from Isḥāq ibn al-Khalīl al-Baghdādī, both of them from Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah, who said:

“I found in my father’s book in his own handwriting: ḥaddathanā Shuʿbah, from Simāk ibn Ḥarb, from Jābir ibn Samurah, who said: the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said: ‘Seek Laylat al-Qadr in the last ten nights of Ramaḍān.’”

Al-Ṭabarānī said in al-Muʿjam al-Ṣaghīr:

“It was not narrated from Shuʿbah except by Muḥammad ibn Abī Shaybah.”

I say: this ḥadīth from Shuʿbah is gharīb! It is uniquely transmitted by Muḥammad ibn Abī Shaybah! And al-Ṭabarānī’s words point to him considering it defective, for even though Muḥammad ibn Abī Shaybah — the father of Abū Bakr — was ṣadūq, it cannot be accepted from him, because Shuʿbah’s prolific students did not narrate it from him at all!

The ḥadīth has another defect as well: wijādah! — and although wijādah is acknowledged by the scholars, it is not accepted absolutely in every case. Here we do not know whether Muḥammad actually heard this ḥadīth from Shuʿbah or whether he made a mistake in it. If Shuʿbah had possessed this narration, his close companions would have reported it from him. The narration of al-Ṭayālisī from Sharīk — as will be shown — supports this, for Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī was a student of Shuʿbah, and had Shuʿbah possessed the ḥadīth, al-Ṭayālisī would have heard it from him. The apparent reality is that Muḥammad ibn Abī Shaybah did not hear it from Shuʿbah, nor did Shuʿbah narrate it. The solitary report of Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Shaybah from Shuʿbah is not acceptable. He was ṣadūq, but only al-Nasāʾī narrated from him, and only one ḥadīth. He was born in 105 AH and died in 182 AH, and his ḥadīths are very few. His son Abū Bakr, the author of al-Muṣannaf, did not hear from him; rather, he transmits from him through wijādah.

This ḥadīth, however, is well-known from Simāk, from Jābir ibn Samurah.

Al-Ṭayālisī narrated it in his Musnad (1/106, no. 778) from Sharīk, from Simāk, from Jābir ibn Samurah, that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:

“Seek Laylat al-Qadr in the last ten nights.”

Aḥmad also narrated it in al-Musnad (5/86, 5/88) from Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd, from Sharīk, with this isnād.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad narrated in his Ziyādāt ʿalā al-Musnad (5/98) from Muḥammad ibn Abī Ghālib, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Sharīk, who said: my father narrated to me, from Simāk, from Jābir ibn Samurah, who said: the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:

“Seek Laylat al-Qadr in the last ten nights of Ramaḍān, in the odd nights, for I saw it but forgot it. It was on a night of rain and wind — or he said: drops and wind.”

I say: the ḥadīth is well-known from Sharīk. It is possible that Muḥammad ibn Abī Shaybah narrated it from Sharīk, wrote it in his book “from Sharīk,” then his son Abū Bakr read it as “from Shuʿbah,” and so it was misread. This is not unlikely, since writing methods in that time were very difficult. If my assumption is correct, then the responsibility lies upon Abū Bakr, not upon his father. And Allāh knows best.

None of those who wrote the biography of Muḥammad ibn Abī Shaybah (105–182 AH) mentioned that he heard from Sharīk, nor did they mention in Sharīk’s biography that Muḥammad heard from him. But the possibility of his hearing from him is strong, for Sharīk was born in 95 AH and died in 177 AH, and both of them were Kufans, both of them judges. Moreover, his son Abū Bakr (159–235 AH) heard from Sharīk. If the son heard from him, then the father’s hearing from him is all the more likely without doubt. Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah was among the last to narrate from Sharīk, having heard from him when he was 14 years old (Tahdhīb al-Kamāl 16/39–40). This shows that Sharīk continued narrating until the end of his life. ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad traveled to Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah and heard from him ḥadīths from Sharīk. When he returned to his father Imām Aḥmad, he showed him these ḥadīths from Sharīk, and Imām Aḥmad was pleased, saying:

“If only Abū Bakr were here, we would have heard them directly from him.”

Sharīk was also followed in his narration from Simāk by Aṣbaṭ ibn Naṣr. Ibn Abī Shaybah narrated it in al-Muṣannaf (2/250, no. 8672 and 2/326, no. 9538) from ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād ibn Ṭalḥah, from Aṣbaṭ, with it.

Al-Haythamī mentioned this ḥadīth in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid (3/177) and said:

“Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it in al-Awsaṭ from Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah as wijādah from his father’s handwriting, and its narrators are trustworthy.”

I say: al-Ṭabarānī did not narrate it in al-Awsaṭ but in al-Kabīr and al-Ṣaghīr, as has preceded. Its narrators are trustworthy, as he said, but al-Haythamī does not have skill in identifying defects. These subtleties escape him, and his view of the ḥadīths is very superficial!

Dr. Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Muḥsin al-Turkī, the editor of Musnad al-Ṭayālisī, noted that the narration from Shuʿbah is a supporting narration (mutābaʿah) for the narration of Sharīk from Simāk, and he attributed it to Ibn Abī Shaybah and al-Ṭabarānī (2/133).

I say: this narration from Shuʿbah is not authentic. Shuʿbah did not narrate it from Simāk, and it is an error attributed to him. So how could the doctor consider it a mutābaʿah?!! Likewise, his attributing it to Ibn Abī Shaybah gives the impression that he produced it in his Muṣannaf, which is not the case. Rather, al-Ṭabarānī narrated it through him. It seems that Ibn Abī Shaybah dictated it to his students. And Allāh knows best.

Written by: Khālid al-Ḥāyik.