1420 H) too seconds him...

1420 H) too seconds him: فإن قال قائل: راوي هذا الشاهد شيعي، وكذلك في سند المشهود له شيعي آخر، وهو جعفر بن سليمان، أفلا يعتبر ذلك طعنا في الحديث وعلة فيه؟ ! فأقول: كلا لأن العبرة في رواية الحديث إنما هو الصدق والحفظ، وأما المذهب فهو بينه وبين ربه، فهو حسيبه If someone says: “The narrator of this corroborative hadith (i.e. that of Ajlah) was a Shi’i, and also in the chain of the main hadith, there is another Shi’i, and he is Ja’far b. Sulayman.

Does this not justify attack on the hadith and constitute a fault in it?” So, I answer: “Not at all, because the requirements in the transmission of hadith are ONLY truthfulness and sound memory.

As for the madhhab (of the narrator), that is between him and his Lord, and He is sufficient for him.[^8] A third Salafi hadith scientist, al-Turayfi, also traces the practice to the Sunni Imams: والأصل في رواية المبتدع إذا كان ضابطاً ثقة القبول، سواء روى فيما يوافق بدعته أم لا، ما لم يكن قد كفر ببدعته، فحينئذ يرد لكفره، وعلى هذا الأئمة الحفاظ، فهم يخرجون للمبتدع إذا كان ثقة ثبتاً، ويصححون خبره The default position concerning the report of a heretic, if he was accurate and trustworthy, is to accept it, regardless of whether he narrated concerning what agrees with his bid’ah (heresy) or not, as long as he had not apostatized through his heresy.

In such a case, it will be rejected due to his kufr (disbelief). This was the practice of the Imams who were hadith scientists, for they used to narrate from the heretic if he was trustworthy and accurate, and used to declare his report to be sahih.[^9] The bottomline is that al-Shahri’s methodology of weakening the hadith is both unprofessional and crude.

Meanwhile, al-Hafiz copies a second, different chain for the hadith: وقال الحارث: ثنا عبد الرحمن بن زياد مولى بني هاشم، ثنا هشيم، عن إسماعيل بن سالم، عن أبي إدريس الأودي، عن علي، قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم :إن هذه الأمة ستغدر بك من بعدي Al-Harith – ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Ziyad, freed slave of Banu Hashim – Hushaym – Isma’il b.

Salim – Abu Idris al-Awdi – ‘Ali: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: “Verily, this Ummah will soon betray you after me.”[^10] Al-Shahri again comments: ضعيف بهذا الإسناد لأن أبا إدريس الأودي مجهول الحال It is dha’if with this chain because Abu Idris al-Awdi is majhul al-hal. ^11 This time, he is unable to accuse any of the narrators of Shi’ism, or to find any other defect – real or imagined – in the chain other than Abu Idris. But then, is Abu Idris really majhul al-hal?