Arqam, may Allah be pleased with him: The Messenger of...

Arqam, may Allah be pleased with him: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: “I am leaving behind over you the Two Weighty Things (al-thaqalayn): the Book of Allah and my . Verily, both shall never separate from each other until they meet me at the Lake-Fount.”[^2] Al-Hakim states: هذا حديث صحيح الإسناد على شرط الشيخين This hadith has a sahih chain upon the standard of the two Shaykhs. ^3 Imam al-Dhahabi (d.

748 H) concurs: على شرط البخاري ومسلم Upon the standard of al-Bukhari and Muslim ^4 Imam al-Tabarani (d. 360 H) too has an additional sanad for the hadith: حدثنا علي بن عبد العزيز ثنا عمرو بن عون الواسطي ثنا خالد بن عبد الله عن الحسن بن عبيد الله عن أبي الضحى عن زيد بن أرقم قال قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم : إني تارك فيكم الثقلين كتاب الله وعترتي أهل بيتي وإنهما لن يتفرقا حتى يردا علي الحوض ‘Ali b. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz – ‘Amr b. ‘Awn al-Wasiti – Khalid b. ‘Abd Allah – al-Hasan b.

‘Ubayd Allah – Abu al-Dhuha – Zayd b. Arqam: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: “I am leaving behind over you the Two Weighty Things (al-thaqalayn): the Book of Allah and my offspring, my . Verily, both shall never separate from each other until they meet me at the Lake-Fount.”[^5] Shaykh al-Arnaut says about this hadith: وهو صحيح It is sahih[^6] This is an authentication of all the parts of the hadith by our typically reluctant Shaykh. This, of course, means a lot.

Meanwhile, there is no sin in independently verifying the authenticity of the hadith. As such, al-Dhahabi says about the first narrator: علي بن عبد العزيز ابن المرزبان ابن سابور: الامام، الحافظ، الصدوق، أبو الحسن البغوي ‘Ali b. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz b. al-Marzaban b. Sabur: the Imam, the hafiz (hadith scientist), the saduq (very truthful) narrator, Abu al-Hasan al-Baghwi.[^7] Elsewhere, he adds: علي بن عبد العزيز البغوي الحافظ المجاور بمكة. ثقة، لكنه يطلب على التحديث، ويعتذر بأنه محتاج.

قال الدارقطني: ثقة مأمون. ‘Ali b. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Baghwi: the hafiz (hadith scientist), adjacent to Makkah: Thiqah (trustworthy). However, he used to request (payments) for narrating ahadith, and he is excused on the ground that he was needy. Al-Daraqutni said: “He was thiqah (trustworthy) and totally reliable.”[^8] Al-Hafiz (d. 852 H) states about the second narrator: عمرو بن عون بن أوس الواسطي أبو عثمان البزاز البصري ثقة ثبت ‘Amr b. ‘Awn b.