Verily...

Verily, both shall never separate from each other until they meet me at the Lake-Fount.”[^4] Shaykh al-Arnaut comments: حديث صحيح بشواهده دون قوله : "وإنهما لن يتفرقا حتى يردا علي الحوض" وهذا إسناد ضعيف لسوء حفظ شريك The hadith is sahih through its shawahid (witnesses), except his statement “Both shall never separate from each other until they meet me at the Lake-Fount.” This chain is dha’if due to the poor memory of Sharik. ^5 So, his only problem with the chain is Sharik.

However, the hadith of Sharik is either sahih or hasan, as we have established in the last chapter. The position of al-Arnaut is therefore nothing but an unnecessary exaggeration. There is only one narrator in this chain of Ahmad that needs to be investigated: al-Aswad b. ‘Amir. This is what al-Hafiz says about him: الأسود بن عامر الشامي نزيل بغداد يكنى أبا عبد الرحمن ويلقب شاذان ثقة Al-Aswad b.

‘Amir al-Shami, a resident of Baghdad, his kunya was Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman and his laqab was Shadhan: Thiqah (trustworthy).[^6] Therefore, the chain is sahih, or at least hasan due to Sharik. Ahmad further records: حدثنا عبد الله حدثني أبي ثنا أبو أحمد الزبيري ثنا شريك عن الركين عن القاسم بن حسان عن زيد بن ثابت قال قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم إني تارك فيكم خليفتين كتاب الله وأهل بيتي وإنهما لن يتفرقا حتى يردا على الحوض جميعا ‘Abd Allah (b. Ahmad) – my father (Ahmad b.

Hanbal) – Abu Ahmad al-Zubayri – Sharik – al-Rukayn – al-Qasim b. Hassan – Zayd b. Thabit: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: “I am leaving behind over you two khalifahs: the Book of Allah and my .

Verily, both shall never separate from each other until they meet me together at the Lake-Fount.”[^7] Al-Arnaut again says: حديث صحيح بشواهده دون قوله : " وإنهما لن يتفرقا حتى يردا علي الحوض جميعا " The hadith is sahih through its shawahid, except his statement, “Both shall never separate from each other until they meet me together at the Lake-Fount.” ^8 The sole unverified narrator here is al-Zubayri, and this is what al-Hafiz submits concerning him: محمد بن عبد الله بن الزبير بن عمر بن درهم الأسدي أبو أحمد الزبيري الكوفي ثقة ثبت إلا أنه قد يخطئ في حديث الثوري Muhammad b.

‘Abd Allah b. al-Zubayr b. ‘Umar b. Dirham al-Asadi, Abu Ahmad al-Zubayri al-Kufi: Thiqah (trustworthy), thabt (accurate), except that he made mistakes in the hadith of al-Thawri.[^9] Well, this is not an hadith of al-Thawri. As such, the chain is sahih – or at least, hasan.