A Sample from the Book Gharāʾib Shuʿbah and the Words of Dr. al-Zayn and al-Laḥḥām

Ibn al-Muẓaffar said: Ḥaddathanā Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yūsuf ibn Abī Ayyūb al-Baṣrī al-Mihri, said: Ḥaddathanī ʿammī Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf, said: Ḥaddathanā Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm, said: Ḥaddathanā Shuʿbah, from Farqad al-Sabakhi, from Ibrāhīm, from ʿAlqamah, from ʿAbd Allāh, who said: the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:

“Every good deed is charity, whether for the rich or the poor.”

I said: Abū Nuʿaym narrated it in al-Ḥilyah (7/194) through the path of the author, then he said: “Gharīb. Muslim alone narrated it from Shuʿbah! I do not know Shuʿbah narrating from Farqad except this.”

I said: Abū Nuʿaym sees this ḥadīth as gharīb from the narration of Shuʿbah, and that it is not known that anyone narrated it from him except Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm. He argued for its strangeness by noting that Shuʿbah is not known to narrate from Farqad al-Sabakhi. For this strangeness Ibn al-Muẓaffar included it in this book!

The ʿIllah of the ḥadīth, and the distortion of “Ṣadaqah” into “Shuʿbah”

Then I found – al-ḥamdu lillāh – that the ḥadīth was narrated by al-Shāshī in his Musnad (1/348) through Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm, who said: Ḥaddathanā Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm, said: Akhbaranā Ṣadaqah ibn Mūsā al-Daqīqī, said: Ḥaddathanā Farqad, from Ibrāhīm, from ʿAlqamah, from ʿAbd Allāh, from the Prophet ﷺ who said:

“Every good deed is charity.”

And Abū Nuʿaym narrated it in al-Ḥilyah (3/49): Ḥaddathanā Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Haytham, said: Ḥaddathanā al-Ḥasan ibn al-Muthannā, said: Ḥaddathanā Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm, said: Ḥaddathanā Ṣadaqah ibn Mūsā, from Farqad, from Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī, from ʿAlqamah, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, who said: the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:

“Every good deed is charity, whether for the rich or the poor.”

Abū Nuʿaym said: Ḥaddathanā Abū al-Ḥasan Sahl ibn ʿAbd Allāh, said: Ḥaddathanā al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Mujawwaz, said: Ḥaddathanā Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm, said: Ḥaddathanā Ṣadaqah ibn Mūsā, said: Ḥaddathanā Farqad, from Yazīd ibn Abī al-Muhzam, from Abū Hurayrah (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhu), who said: the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:

“Siwāk is Sunnah, so use it any time of the day you wish.”

Abū Nuʿaym said: “Strange from the narration of Farqad; Ṣadaqah ibn Mūsā alone narrated it from him, and the previous one as well. He is known as al-Daqīqī, a well-known Baṣrī.”

And Ibn ʿAdī narrated it in al-Kāmil (4/76) through the path of ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAbd al-Wārith, from Ṣadaqah ibn Mūsā, from Farqad with it. Then Ibn ʿAdī said: “This ḥadīth from Farqad I do not know anyone narrated from him other than Ṣadaqah ibn Mūsā.”

I said: From this it becomes clear that the ḥadīth is from Ṣadaqah ibn Mūsā from Farqad, and Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm heard it from him. It is possible he erred and at one time narrated it as from Shuʿbah from Farqad! And Ṣadaqah ibn Mūsā is nothing (weak).

What I lean toward is that the mistake was not from Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm, for he narrated it correctly. It seems the name “Ṣadaqah” was altered to “Shuʿbah” either by Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yūsuf, or his uncle Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf, or by Ibn al-Muẓaffar himself. This is more likely than attributing the error to Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm and saying he alone narrated it from Shuʿbah. And Allāh knows best.

The words of Dr. al-Zayn and al-Laḥḥām on this ḥadīth

Dr. Ḥamzah al-Zayn said in his commentary on this ḥadīth:

“Its isnād is ḥasan. Farqad al-Sabakhi is ibn Yaʿqūb, his ḥadīth is acceptable if supported or if he has a witness. This ḥadīth has many witnesses, ṣaḥīḥ and ḥasan... Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it through Abū ʿAwanah from ʿĀṣim ibn Bahdalah from Abū Wāʾil from Ibn Masʿūd, and this isnād is ṣaḥīḥ despite discussion on ʿĀṣim... and al-Bazzār from Ṣadaqah ibn Mūsā from Farqad. Ṣadaqah is weak as al-Haythamī said, but al-Haythamī cited for it witnesses with Aḥmad from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yazīd al-Khaṭmī and said its narrators are trustworthy, and with al-Ṭabarānī from Abū Masʿūd al-Anṣārī, and he said its narrators are men of al-Ṣaḥīḥ...”

I said:

• The doctor looked at Farqad and did not notice that the ḥadīth from Shuʿbah is mistaken; the fault is not on Farqad.
• The doctor relied on what al-Haythamī mentioned in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid, but not all those aḥādīth he cited are authentic. And the words of al-Haythamī about aḥādīth are not relied upon. One must beware! For his book is a collection of rarities, oddities, and false reports!
• The original ḥadīth is famous and ṣaḥīḥ, narrated by al-Bukhārī from Jābir, marfūʿ: “Every good deed is charity.”
• And with Ibn Abī Shaybah (5/221) from Abū Muʿāwiyah from al-Aʿmash from Ibrāhīm, who said: ʿAbd Allāh said: “Every good deed is charity.”

The doctor gave biographies of the narrators to argue for its ḥasan status, but I did not reproduce them because it does not concern us! What benefit is there in giving a biography for Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm or ʿAlqamah? He gave a biography of Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf, saying: “Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf ibn Khālid al-Sulamī al-Azdī, declared trustworthy by Muslim and al-Dāraqutnī. His ḥadīth is in Muslim as in al-Tahdhīb.”

I said: The Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf in this isnād is not al-Sulamī as the doctor thought! He is another of the same generation. If it were him, his name would be: “Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf ibn Abī Ayyūb al-Mihri.” The one Muslim narrated from is: “Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf ibn Khālid ibn Sālim ibn Zāwiyah al-Azdī al-Muhallabī Abū al-Ḥasan al-Nīsābūrī, known as Ḥamdān al-Sulamī.” Both narrated from Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm, and this may have led the doctor to think the Aḥmad mentioned in the isnād is the well-known Shaykh of Muslim, Ḥamdān. But it is not so. And Allāh knows best.

The ḥadīth al-Ṭabarānī pointed to is mawqūf on Ibn Masʿūd (al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr 9/207). His citation of it suggests it is marfūʿ, which is misleading.

As for al-Laḥḥām, he referred to its takhrīj under no. (126)! But this is a false reference, as the ḥadīth in his work is no. (128)! And his cross-reference is inaccurate, since that isnād is different and unrelated to the first. Al-Laḥḥām did nothing, merely quoting some of the narrations of this ḥadīth without commenting on any of them. And Allāh’s help is sought.

Written by: Khālid al-Ḥāyik

18 Dhū al-Ḥijjah 1428 AH