Imam al-Bukhari (d.
Imam al-Bukhari (d. 256 H) records the same athar in his Sahih : حدثنا عمرو بن علي حدثنا يحيى حدثنا سفيان عن حبيب عن سعيد بن جبير عن ابن عباس قال قال عمر رضي الله عنه: أقرؤنا أبي وأقضانا علي ‘Amr b. ‘Ali – Yahya – Sufyan – Habib – Sa’id b.
Jubayr – Ibn ‘Abbas: ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “The best reciter among us is Ubayy, and the best judge among us is ‘Ali .”[^7] Apart from ‘Umar, all the other Sahabah also explicitly declared that the best judge among them – including their most senior ones living in Madinah - was none other than Amir al-Muminin. Imam al-Hakim (d.
403 H) records: أخبرني عبد الرحمن بن الحسن القاضي بهمدان ثنا إبراهيم بن الحسين ثنا آدم بن أبي إياس ثنا شعبة عن أبي إسحاق عن عبد الرحمن بن يزيد عن علقمة عن عبد الله قال كنا نتحدث أن أقضى أهل المدينة علي بن أبي طالب رضي الله عنه ‘Abd al-Rahman b. al-Hasan al-Qadi – Ibrahim b. al-Husayn – Adam b. Abi Iyas – Shu’bah – Abu Ishaq – ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Yazid – ‘Alqamah – ‘Abd Allah (b. Mas’ud): “ We used to SAY that the best judge among the people of Madinah was ‘Ali b.
Abi Talib , may Allah be pleased with him.”[^8] Al-Hakim says: هذا حديث صحيح على شرط الشيخين This hadith is sahih upon the standard of the two Shaykhs. ^9 Imam al-Dhahabi (d. 748 H), on his part, keeps silent about it. The reason is unclear since the athar has a perfectly sahih chain. Meanwhile, he has personally authenticated the sanad and all its narrators in the same book in other ahadith !
For example, al-Hakim records this chain: أخبرنا عبد الرحمن بن الحسن القاضي ثنا إبراهيم بن الحسين ثنا آدم بن أبي إياس ثنا شعبة عن منصور عن إبراهيم عن علقمة عن عبد الله رضي الله عنه ‘Abd al-Rahman b. al-Hasan al-Qadi – Ibrahim b. al-Husayn – Adam b. Abi Iyas – Shu’bah – Mansur – Ibrahim – ‘Alqamah – ‘Abd Allah (b. Mas’ud) , may Allah be pleased with him.[^10] The only differences in this sanad from that of the athar are Mansur and Ibrahim.
Al-Hakim declares: هذا حديث صحيح على شرط الشيخين This hadith is sahih upon the standard of the two Shaykhs. ^11 Interestingly, al-Dhahabi confirms the verdict: على شرط البخاري ومسلم ( Sahih ) upon the standard of al-Bukhari and Muslim. ^12 This proves that ‘Abd al-Rahman b. al-Hasan al-Qadi, Ibrahim b. al-Husayn, Adam b. Abi Iyas, Shu’bah and ‘Alqamah are thiqah (trustworthy) narrators! But, what is the status Abu Ishaq and ‘Abd al-Rahman b.