I say: This chain, all its narrators are trustworthy .

I say: This chain, all its narrators are trustworthy . However, Abu Ishaq – and he is al-Sabi’i – was a mudalis , and he became confused, and his son Yunus narrated from him after he had become confused.[^3] So, all the narrators are trustworthy. However, Abu Ishaq was a mudalis , and has narrated in an ‘an-‘an manner. Moreover, his son, Yunus, allegedly narrated from him only after he (Abu Ishaq) had become confused.

These are ‘Allamah al-Albani’s only objections to the authenticity of the hadith . The arguments of our ‘Allamah are a bit disappointing. While it is true that Abu Ishaq was a mudalis , his tadlis was largely of the harmless grade. Therefore, his ‘an-‘an reports are accepted without objection. Let us briefly examine how the muhadithun of the Ahl al-Sunnah have treated a well-known, strictly ‘an-‘an narration of Abu Ishaq. Imam Muslim (d.

261 H) records: حدثنا عبدالله بن مسلمة بن قعنب حدثنا معتمر بن سليمان عن أبيه عن رقبة بن مسقلة عن أبي إسحاق عن سعيد بن جبير عن ابن عباس عن أبي بن كعب قال قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم إن الغلام الذي قتله الخضر طبع كافرا ولو عاش لأرهق أبويه طغيانا وكفرا ‘Abd Allah b. Musalamah b. Qa’nab – Mu’tamir b. Sulayman – his father – Raqabah b. Masqalah – Abu Ishaq – Sa’id b. Jubayr – Ibn ‘Abbas – Ubayy b.

Ka’b: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said, “Verily, the boy killed by al-Khidhr was created an unbeliever. If he had lived, he would have grieved his parents with his obstinate rebellion (against Allah) and disbelief (in Allah)”.[^4] Abu Ishaq has narrated it ‘an-‘an , and Imam Muslim has nonetheless accepted the hadith as sahih . Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal (d. 241 H) has also included the same riwayah with the same ‘an-‘an chain in his Musnad [^5].

Shaykh al-Arnauṭ comments about it this way: إسناده صحيح على شرط الشيخين Its chain is sahih upon the standard of the two Shaykhs. ^6 Imam al-Tirmidhi (d. 279 H) has equally documented it with Abu Ishaq’s ‘an-‘an narration[^7]. Al-Tirmidhi says: هذا حديث حسن صحيح غريب This hadith is hasan sahih gharib .