24- Al-Rabīʿ narrated to us, saying: Asad narrated to us, saying: Abū al-Rabīʿ al-Sammān narrated to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Abī Yazīd narrated to me, from his father, from Umm Ayyūb, that she heard the Prophet ﷺ say: "The Qur'an was sent down according to seven Ahruf, so whichever you recite, you are correct." (1)
25- Abū Kurayb narrated to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Ādam narrated to me, saying: Isrāʾīl narrated to us, from Abū Isḥāq, from a certain al-ʿAbdī—Abū Jaʿfar said: "His name slipped my mind"—from Sulaymān ibn Ṣurad, from Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, who said: I went to the mosque and heard a man reciting, so I said: "Who taught you to recite?" He said: "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ." So I went with him to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: "Ask this man to recite." He said: So he recited, and [the Prophet] said: "You have done well." He said: So I said: "Indeed, you taught me to recite such-and-such!" He said: "And you too have done well." He said: So I said: "You have done well! You have done well?!" He said: So he struck my chest with his hand, then said: "O Allah, remove doubt from Ubayy." He said: So I broke into a sweat, and my body filled with fear. Then he said: "The two angels came to me, and one of them said: 'Recite the Qur'an according to one Harf.' And the other said: 'Increase it for him.' He said: So I said: 'Increase it for me.' He said: 'Recite it according to two Ahruf.' Until he reached seven Ahruf, so he said: 'Recite according to seven Ahruf.'" (2)
Notes
- (1) Hadith 24: As for this one, it is a very weak (da'if jiddan) chain of transmission. Abu al-Rabi' al-Samman—his name being Ash'ath ibn Sa'id al-Basri—is very weak; Shu'ba used to accuse him of lying. The hadith has already passed with two authentic (sahih) chains of transmission, numbers 20 and 23.
- (2) Hadith 25: Some of its meaning has already passed in brief, and we pointed to this in Hadith number 21, noting that Sulayman ibn Surad, its narrator there, only narrated it from Ubayy ibn Ka'b.
And in this chain of transmission, Abu Ja'far al-Tabari forgot the name of "So-and-so al-'Abdi," as he himself stated here.
Ibn Kathir quoted it in al-Fada'il (61) from this location in Tafsir al-Tabari, then pointed to some of its other narrations in which he named this "So-and-so al-'Abdi" by his actual name, seeking to reconcile these narrations with the previous narration, number 21, in which the hadith was from the narration of Sulayman ibn Surad without mentioning Ubayy ibn Ka'b. He said: "So this hadith is preserved in general from Ubayy ibn Ka'b, and it appears that Sulayman ibn Surad al-Khuza'i witnessed that."
And the correct view is what we held there, that it is from the narration of Sulayman ibn Surad from Ubayy ibn Ka'b.
And this detailed hadith—which is here—was narrated by 'Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal in the Musnad of his father (5/124 of the al-Halabi edition), from Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shayba, from 'Ubayd Allah ibn Musa, from Isra'il, from Abu Ishaq, from Suqayr al-'Abdi, from Sulayman ibn Surad, from Ubayy ibn Ka'b, with similar wording and in meaning.
So we know from the narration of 'Abd Allah ibn Ahmad that the name of this narrator "al-'Abdi" is "Suqayr." It is with a damma on the unpointed sin and a fatha on the qaf, as specified by the Hadith master (hafiz) 'Abd al-Ghani ibn Sa'id al-Misri in the book al-Mu'talif (65), and likewise affirmed by al-Dhahabi in al-Mushtabih (266). There is an old disagreement regarding his name, but this is the correct, preferred view.
For al-Bukhari gave a biographical entry for him in al-Tarikh al-Kabir (2/2/331) under the letter Sad, under the name "Suqayr," though a scribal error occurred in it where it was written "Su'ayr" with an 'ayn instead of a qaf. Its editor, the learned scholar Sheikh 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Yahya al-Yamani, verified that in the margin, quoting that the Prince Ibn Makula also recorded it as "Suqayr."
And Ibn Abi Hatim gave a biographical entry for him in al-Jarh wa-l-Ta'dil (2/1/318) under the letter , under the name "Suqayr al-'Abdi," then repeated him under the letter (2/1/452) under the name "Saqr al-'Abdi, and it is said: Suqayr al-'Abdi," bringing a third opinion.
And al-Husayni gave a biographical entry for him in (45), saying: "Suqayr al-'Abdi, from Sulayman ibn Surad al-Khuza'i, and from him Abu Ishaq al-Sabi'i: he is not well-known." But the Hadith master (hafiz) took him to task in (157), saying: "He was not correct in that, for they mentioned him under the unpointed letter , and neither al-Bukhari nor Ibn Abi Hatim mentioned any discredit (jarh) regarding him, and Ibn Hibban mentioned him in ." And he is in (226) under the name "Suqayr al-'Abdi."
So once it is clear that this "al-'Abdi" is a trustworthy Successor (tabi'i)—due to al-Bukhari's implicit attestation of reliability (ta'dil) by not discrediting him, and Ibn Hibban's inclusion of him in —this chain of transmission is authentic (sahih).
Furthermore, Suqayr al-'Abdi was not solitary in narrating it from Sulayman ibn Surad; another trustworthy, well-known Successor among the prominent Successors, namely Yahya ibn Ya'mar, narrated it from him as well.
Ahmad narrated it in the (5/124) from 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi and from Bahz; his son 'Abd Allah ibn Ahmad narrated it from Hudba ibn Khalid al-Qaysi; and Abu Dawud narrated it in the (no. 1477, vol. 2, p. 102) from Abu al-Walid al-Tayalisi—all of them from Humam ibn Yahya, from Qatada, from Yahya ibn Ya'mar, from Sulayman ibn Surad, from Ubayy ibn Ka'b, in a similar, abridged form. And these chains of transmission are authentic (sahih) according to the conditions of the two Sheikhs.
And it will come after this through many chains of transmission, from various routes, from Ubayy ibn Ka'b under numbers 26–39, 46.
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