Ḥadīth: “al-Shām is the chosen land of Allāh from among His lands” — Munkar (rejected).
Al-Walīd ibn Muslim narrated, saying: ʿUfair ibn Maʿdān narrated to us, that he heard Sulaym ibn ʿĀmir narrating, from Abū Umāmah, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said:
“Al-Shām is the chosen land of Allāh from among His lands. He selects His chosen ones from among His servants. Whoever leaves al-Shām for elsewhere does so under wrath, and whoever enters it does so under mercy.”
It was reported by al-Ṭabarānī in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (8/171) through Maḥmūd ibn Muḥammad al-Marwazī, from ʿAlī ibn Ḥujr, from al-Walīd, with this chain.
It was also reported by al-Ḥākim in al-Mustadrak (4/555) through Ṣafwān ibn Ṣāliḥ, from al-Walīd ibn Muslim.
Al-Ḥākim said: “This ḥadīth has an authentic chain according to the conditions of Muslim, though neither of them (al-Bukhārī nor Muslim) reported it.”
I say
How can it be according to the conditions of Muslim when Muslim did not report from ʿUfair ibn Maʿdān?!
ʿUfair ibn Maʿdān al-Ḥaḍramī al-Ḥimṣī, the muʾadhdhin, is nothing, as Ibn Maʿīn and others stated. He narrates excessively from Sulaym from Abū Umāmah, and all of it is rejected (munkar).
Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī said: I heard Duḥaym say:
“ʿUfair ibn Maʿdān is nothing. He clung to narrating from Sulaym ibn ʿĀmir,”
and he likened him to Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr and Bishr ibn Numayr.
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥātim said: I asked my father about ʿUfair ibn Maʿdān, and he said:
“He is weak in ḥadīth. He narrates excessively from Sulaym ibn ʿĀmir, from Abū Umāmah, from the Prophet ﷺ, rejected reports with no basis. One should not engage with his narrations.”
Ibrāhīm ibn Yaʿqūb al-Saʿdī al-Jawzajānī said: I said to Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn: “Do you include ʿUfair ibn Maʿdān with Abū Mahdī?” He replied:
“He is close to him. Those narrations of Sulaym ibn ʿĀmir—where did he even get hold of them?!”
Abū Mushir said: Muḥammad ibn Shuʿayb said:
“I disavow myself before you from the ḥadīths of ʿUfair ibn Maʿdān and Saʿīd ibn Sinān—who is Abū Mahdī.”
Ibn ʿAdī mentioned some of his rejected narrations in his biography in al-Kāmil (5/381), then said:
“ʿUfair ibn Maʿdān has other narrations besides what I mentioned, and the majority of his narrations are not preserved.”
Ibn Ḥibbān said in al-Majrūḥīn (2/198):
“He narrates rejected reports from well-known people. When that became frequent in his narrations, using his reports as proof became invalid.”
Al-ʿUqaylī said in al-Ḍuʿafāʾ (3/430):
“ʿUfair ibn Maʿdān narrates from Sulaym ibn ʿĀmir. He is not followed up in his narrations, and he is known only by them.”
Therefore, this ḥadīth is very severely rejected, from the rejected narrations of ʿUfair ibn Maʿdān from Sulaym ibn ʿĀmir.
Written by: Abū Ṣuhayb Khālid al-Ḥāyik.