Through it...

Through it, all the parts of the hadith, including those denied by al-Arnaut, are firmly established. Imam Ibn Abi ‘Asim (d. 287 H) has documented the hadith too: ثنا أبو بكر، ثنا عمرو بن سعد أبو داود الحفري، عن شريك، عن الركين عن القاسم بن حسان، عن زيد بن ثابت قال قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: إني تارك فيكم الخليفتين من بعدي، كتاب الله وعترتي أهل بيتي وإنهما لن يتفرقا حتى يردا علي الحوض. Abu Bakr – ‘Amr b. Sa’d Abu Dawud al-Hafari – 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 the two khalifahs after me: the Book of Allah and my offspring, my . Verily, both shall never separate from each other until they meet me at the Lake-Fount.”[^10] ‘Allamah al-Albani (d. 1420 H) declares: حديث صحيح. وإسناده ضعيف لسوء حفظ شريك وهو ابن عبد الله القاضي والقاسم بن حسان مجهول الحال. والحديث أخرجه أحمد 5/181-182 و189 و190 من طريقين آخرين عن شريك به. وإنما صححته لأن له شواهد تقوية It is a sahih hadith.

But, its chain is dha’if due to the poor memory of Sharik, and he was Ibn ‘Abd Allah the Judge. Also, al-Qasim b. Hassan is majhul al-hal (i.e. his status is unknown). The hadith is recorded by Ahmad (5/181-182, 189, and 190) through two other chains from Sharik with it. I have only declared it sahih because it has witnesses (shawahid) that strengthen it.[^11] Obviously, our ‘Allamah too was infected by the anti-Sharik fallacy. In any case, Sharik was hasan al-hadith. Moreover, al-Qasim b.

Hassan is not majhul al-hal. His status is known, and he is thiqah (trustworthy), as we have proved. The new name here is Abu Bakr, and this is what al-Hafiz says about him: عبد الله بن محمد بن أبي شيبة إبراهيم بن عثمان الواسطي الأصل أبو بكر بن أبي شيبة الكوفي ثقة حافظ صاحب تصانيف ‘Abd Allah b. Muhammad b. Abi Shaybah Ibrahim b. ‘Uthman, of Wasiti origin, Abu Bakr b. Abi Shaybah al-Kufi: Thiqah (trustworthy), a hadith scientist, author of books.[^12] So, the chain is either sahih or hasan.

[^1]: Abu Bakr ‘Abd Allah b. Abi Shaybah, Musnad Ibn Abi Shaybah (Riyadh: Dar al-Watan; 1st edition, 1418 H) [annotators: ‘Adil b. Yusuf al-‘Azazi and Ahmad b. Farid al-Mazidi], vol. 1, p. 108 [^3]: Ahmad b. ‘Ali b. Hajar al-‘Asqalani, Taqrib al-Tahdhib (Beirut: Dar al-Maktabah al-‘Ilmiyyah; 2nd edition, 1415 H) [annotator: Mustafa ‘Abd al-Qadir ‘Ata], vol. 1, p. 718, # 4920 [^4]: Abu ‘Abd Allah Ahmad b. Hanbal al-Shaybani, Musnad (Cairo: Muasassat Qurtubah) [annotator: Shu’ayb al-Arnaut], vol.

5, p.