Meanwhile...

Meanwhile, let us assume – for the sake of argument - that Sharik narrated only those 9000 throughout his lifetime. So, in what percentage of them did he make mistakes due to his poor memory? Imam Ibn ‘Adi records the answer: حدثنا عمر بن سنان سمعت إبراهيم بن سعيد الجوهري يقول أخطأ شريك في أربع ماية حديث ‘Umar b. Sinan narrated to us that he heard Ibrahim b.

Sa’d al-Jawhari saying: “Sharik made mistakes in 400 (four hundred) ahadith.”[^11] In other words, Sharik made mistakes – due to his poor memory - in 4 out of every 90 ahadith; and he authentically and accurately transmitted 86 out of every 90 ahadith from his shuyukh. For Allah’s sake, is this enough to call for his head and abandon all his ahadith as some from the Ahl al-Sunnah have done? What are all these bloated statements about him then?

This revelation obviously lays the exaggerations and the exaggerated positions concerning him to rest. His case was not as serious as some make it out to be. No wonder, most of the classical Sunni hadith collectors relied upon him as a hujjah in their books. Imam al-Dhahabi too concludes about him: قلت: كان شريك حسن الحديث إماما فقيها ومحدثا مكثرا ليس هو في الاتقان كحماد بن زيد. وقد استشهد به البخاري وخرج له مسلم متابعة. ووثقه يحيى بن معين ... وحديثه من أقسام الحسن.

I (al-Dhahabi) say: Sharik was hasan al-hadith (i.e. his ahadith are hasan). He was an Imam, a jurist, a prolific hadith narrator. He was not as precise as Hammad b. Zayd. Al-Bukhari has used him as a witness, Muslim has narrated mutaba’at reports from him, and Yahya b. Ma’in declared him thiqah (trustworthy) ... His ahadith are in the hasan categories.[^12] Imam al-‘Ijli has a similar submission: شريك بن عبد الله النخعي القاضي كوفي ثقة وكان حسن الحديث Sharik b.

‘Abd Allah al-Nakha’i, the judge, Kufi: Thiqah (trustworthy), and he was hasan al-hadith (i.e. his ahadith are hasan).[^13] Imam al-Haythami (d. 807 H) also says: رواه كله أحمد ورجال الروايتين رجال الصحيح غير شريك بن عبد الله النخعي وهو حسن الحديث It is entirely recorded by Ahmad, and the narrators of the two reports are narrators of the Sahih, except Sharik b. ‘Abd Allah al-Nakha’i who is hasan al-hadith (i.e.

his ahadith are hasan).[^14] So, Sharik was a thiqah (trustworthy) narrator who made many mistakes in 4 out of every 90 of his ahadith. He was taken as a hujjah by most of the classical Sunni hadith collectors, including possibly Imam Muslim.