To him, there is nothing special in it.
To him, there is nothing special in it. After all, Amir al-Muminin ‘Ali, ‘alaihi al-salam , was – according to our Shaykh – only offering that challenge to ignorant, evil people. He never dared present it to any of the Sahabah! By contrast, Abu Bakr displayed his knowledge in the blessed presence of the most knowledgeable and the best of this entire Ummah . In order to weigh the positives and negatives of Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah’s submissions, we must first understand the context of Hadith Saluni .
Abi Barrah from Abu al-Tufayl that he heard ‘Ali; and IT IS ALSO AUTHENTICALLY TRANSMITTED through many chains that Amir al-Muminin ‘Ali b. Abi Talib climbed the pulpit of Kufah and said, “ You will not ask me about ANY verse in the Book of Allah, or about ANY Sunnah from the Messenger of Allah, except that I will inform you of that .”[^3] Imam al-Hakim (d.
403 H) also records: أخبرنا أبو الحسن علي بن محمد بن عقبة ثنا الحسن بن علي بن عفان ثنا محمد بن عبيد الطنافسي ثنا بسام بن عبد الرحمن الصيرفي ثنا أبو الطفيل قال رأيت أمير المؤمنين علي بن أبي طالب رضي الله عنه قال على المنبر فقال : سلوني قبل أن لا تسألوني ولن تسألوا بعدي مثلي Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali b. Muhammad b. ‘Uqbah – al-Hasan b. ‘Ali b. ‘Affan – Muhammad b. ‘Ubayd al-Tanafasi – Bassam b. ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Sayarfi – Abu al-Tufayl: I saw Amir al-Muminin ‘Ali b.
Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, saying on the pulpit, “Ask me before you are no longer able to ask me, and you will NEVER be able to ask ANYONE like me after me .[^4] Al-Hakim says: حديث صحيح الإسناد A hadith with a sahih chain Al-Dhahabi (d. 748 H) agrees: صحيح Sahih ^5 Imam Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d.
310 H) further documents: حدثنا ابن المثنى، قال: ثنا محمد بن جعفر، قال: ثنا شعبة، عن القاسم بن أبي بزة، قال: سمعت أبا الطفيل، قال: سمعت عليا رضي الله عنه عنه يقول: لا تسألوني عن كتاب ناطق، ولا سنة ماضية، إلا حدثتكم، فسأله ابن الكواء عن الذاريات، فقال: هي الرياح. Ibn al-Muthanna – Muhammad b. Ja’far – Shu’bah – al-Qasim b.