His preoccupation with state and political affairs and his...

His preoccupation with state and political affairs and his serving of kings and nobles dominated his thought and speech, and as a result induced him to imagine that the report of the uprising and revolution of the Mahdi- [(‘a)], was a (purely) Shi‘ite belief. However, it is worth noting that first Ibn Khaldun has not properly understood the statements of hadith compilers that negative criticism (jarh) takes precedence over positive criticism (ta‘di-l).

If he had properly understood their statements he would not have commented in this manner. It is also possible that he understood their purpose but since his thoughts were profoundly influenced by the political views of his times, he has tried to weaken the aha-di-th concerning the Mahdi- (‘a). Second, ‘Asim bin Abi- al-Najud is considered one of the reputed reciters of the Holy Qur’a-n and is also regarded as a trustworthy transmitter of hadith.

Maybe he has made mistakes in some aha-di-th but these are not to the extent that his narration should be rejected. The strongest criticism against him is that he was not of good memory. But on the basis of such a single criticism, could we ignore him and consider this as a means of rejecting a report whose authenticity has been confirmed through various other chains and narrated in the words of several companions (of the Prophet)?

The soundness of this report is to the extent that no one has any doubts about it, because among the transmitters could be seen just, truthful and candid persons.

Moreover, since this hadith has been narrated by other transmitters as well, the likelihood of a slip concerning someone whose memory being sharp is somewhat under doubt, is completely eliminated.[^74] These were some of the examples of the large number of hadith concerning the virtues of the Prophet’s (‘a) found in the Musnad of Ahmad bin Hanbal. The writer of the article had to limit his selection in view of the space.

📌It is hoped that this article would serve the purpose of bridging the gap between the Muslims and promote better understanding of each other. Notes: [^67] Al-Musnad, hadith no. 773. [^68] Ibid, hadith no. 645. [^69] Ibid, hadith no. 3571. There are several other hadith in the Musnad concerning the uprising of the Mahdi- (‘a), e.g. hadith nos. 3572, 3573, 4098, 4279 etc. Most of the isna-d of these ahadith have been confirmed as sahi-h.

[^70] Ibn Khaldun, al-Muqaddimah, translated by Franz Rosenthal, vol. 2, pp.

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