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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Hadith al-Thaqalayn Some Traditions that Appear to Conflict with Hadith al-Thaqalayn Tradition n.1 Shah ‘Abd al-Aziz, in the Tuhfah, states that even if Hadith al-Thaqalayn be accepted as such, it contradicts some traditions of the Prophet (S). One of these traditions, which he claims to be sahih , is as follows: عليكم بسني وسنة الخلفاء الراشدين المهديين من بعدي تمسكوا بها وعضوا عليها بالنواجد.

Adhere to my sunnah and the sunnah of the rightly-guided successors after me. Hold on to it and cling on to it stubbornly. Sayyid Hamid Husayn points out that such a contention is invalid: • Firstly, he says, the tradition has been narrated solely by Sunnis, unlike the Hadith al-Thaqalayn which has been narrated widely both by Shi’i and non-Shi’i narrators.

●Secondly, Shah ‘Abd al-Aziz has here failed to observe his own self-declared principle that his arguments against Shi’i doctrines will be based on material derived from works accepted as reliable by the Shi’ah themselves. • Thirdly, he points out, this tradition has been avoided by Muslim and al-Bukhari, whose works are widely accepted by the Ahl al-Sunnah as the most authentic works on hadith.

●Fourthly, the claim that the above-mentioned narration is sahih is not true, because the veracity of its transmitters has been considered as questionable by Sunni authorities. The tradition has been recorded by Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah in their works. As to al-Irbad ibn Sariyah, the sole narrator from whom the tradition is narrated, he is not reliable because of the untenable statement he makes in his own praise ("I am one-fourth of Islam").

As to Hajar ibn Hajar al-Kila'i, aside from belonging to Hims, a Syrian town once notorious for its people's enmity of ‘Ali (A), is of unknown standing as mentioned by Ibn Hajar in Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, iii, 118. Khalid ibn Ma’dan ibn Abi Karib al-Kitabi, aside from belonging to Hims, was the chief of police of Yazid ibn Mu’awiyah, the most infamous ruler in the history of Islam. Thawr ibn Yazid, too, belonged to Hims as mentioned by al-Dhahabi (Mizan al-i’tidal , i, 374).

As mentioned by Ibn Hajar (op. cit., ii, 34) he hated ‘Ali (A), who had killed his father in a battle. ‘Abd Allah ibn Mubarak refrained from narrating from him and considered him a heretic (fasid almadhhab). The next transmitter, al-Walid ibn Muslim, has been accused of forgery by Abu Mushar, as mentioned by al-Dhahabi in Mizan al-i’tidal, iv, 347.

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