ভূমিকা
Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Abd Allah Ibn Saba Myth Exploded Tracing The Fairytale: Explicit Athar Mentioning “The Black Container” ========================================================================= There are Sunni reports which allege that Imam ‘Ali, ‘alaihi al-salam , called someone – or perhaps each of a set of people - “the black container”. We have quoted one of such riwayat in the last chapter.
We will here proceed to examine all the other existing Sunni riwayat on “the black container”. Ibn Asakir (d.
571 H) records: أخبرنا أبو القاسم يحيى بن بطريق بن بشرى وأبو محمد عبد الكريم بن حمزة قالا أنا أبو الحسن بن مكي أنا أبو القاسم المؤمل بن أحمد بن محمد الشيباني نا يحيى بن محمد بن صاعد نا بندار نا محمد بن جعفر نا شعبة عن سلمة عن زيد بن وهب عن علي قال ما لي ومال هذا الحميت الأسود قال ونا يحيى بن محمد نا بندار نا محمد بن جعفر نا شعبة عن سلمة قال قال سمعت أبا الزعراء يحدث عن علي عليه السلام قال ما لي ومال هذا الحميت الأسود Abu al-Qasim Yahya b. Batriq b. Bushra and Abu Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Karim b.
Hamzah – Abu al-Hasan b. Makki – Abu al-Qasim al-Muammal b. Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Shaybani – Yahya b. Muhammad b. Sa’id – Bundar – Muhammad b. Ja’far – Shu’bah – Salamah – Zayd b. Wahb: ‘Ali said, “What do I have to do with this black container?” And Yahya b. Muhammad – Bundar – Muhammad b. Ja’far – Shu’bah – Salamah – Abu al-Za’ra: ‘Ali, ‘alaihi al-salam , said: “What do I have to do with this black container?”[^1] These ones are even more redundant than the previous one.
No information whatsoever is given on the “black container”. Who was he? What did he do? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! If we connected them with the other report, then we would have the identity of the “black container” as simply Ibn al-Sawda and his crime as telling lies upon Allah and His Messenger, sallallahu ‘alaihi wa alihi . But, who was that even?! The final Sunni riwayah on the “black container” is this one, reported by Imam Ibn Abi Khaythamah (d.
279 H): حدثنا عمرو بن مرزوق قال أنا شعبة عن سلمة بن كهيل عن زيد بن وهب قال قال علي] ما لي [ولهذا الحميت الأسود يعني عبد الله بن سبأ وكان يقع في أبي بكر وعمر كذا قال : عن سلمة عن زيد بن وهب ‘Amr b. Marzuq – Shu’bah – Salamah b. Kuhayl – Zayd b. Wahb: ‘Ali said, “[What do I have to do] with this black container?”. He meant ‘Abd Allah b. Saba and he used to attack Abu Bakr and ‘Umar . That was how he said: from Salamah from Zayd b.