Mention of the Reports
In Whose Interpretation Those Who Deny Speaking About the Interpretation of the Qur'an Erred
If someone were to say to us: What do you say regarding that which:
90 - Al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm narrated to you, saying: Muḥammad ibn Khālid ibn ʿAthma narrated to us, saying: Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Zubayrī narrated to me, saying: Hishām ibn ʿUrwa narrated to me, from his father, from ʿĀʾisha, who said: The Prophet Peace and blessings of God be upon him used not to explain anything of the Qur'an except a specific number of verses that Gabriel had taught him.
91 - Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Ṭarsūsī narrated to us, saying: Maʿn informed us, from Jaʿfar ibn Khālid, from Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, from his father, from ʿĀʾisha, who said: The Prophet Peace and blessings of God be upon him used not to explain anything of the Qur'an except a specific number of verses that Gabriel, peace be upon him, had taught him (1).
Notes
- (1) Hadith 90, 91 - It is reported via two chains of transmission, and Ibn Kathīr quoted them in the Tafsir 1: 14–15 from al-Ṭabarī, saying: "A rejected, Singular hadith. And this Jaʿfar is Ibn Muḥammad ibn Khālid ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām al-Qurashī al-Zubayrī; al-Bukhārī said: 'He is not followed in his hadith.' And the Hadith master Abū al-Fatḥ al-Azdī said: 'Disapproved in hadith.'" It was also mentioned by al-Haythamī in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid 6: 303, where he said: "Abū Yaʿlā recorded it, and al-Bazzār similarly. Among its narrators is one whose name was not verified by either of them, while the rest of its men are the men of the Sahih (Authentic). As for al-Bazzār, he said: 'from Ḥafṣ, I think he is Ibn ʿAbd Allāh, from Hishām ibn ʿUrwa.' And Abū Yaʿlā said: 'from so-and-so son of Muḥammad ibn Khālid from Hishām.'" As for what was mentioned about al-Bazzār, the narrator's lineage was not clear to him, and he encountered him under the name "Ḥafṣ", so he thought he was "Ibn ʿAbd Allāh"; perhaps it was a scribal corruption in his copy from "Jaʿfar" or corrupted by copyists, so he thought he was "Jaʿfar ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Zayd ibn Aslam." This "Jaʿfar ibn ʿAbd Allāh" is given a biography in al-Tahdhīb, where it is noted that his name appeared in some copies of Sunan al-Nasāʾī / Muwaṭṭaʾ Mālik as "Ḥafṣ ibn ʿAbd Allāh". Whichever the case, al-Bazzār's error in his assumption is clear, and the narrator is "Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn Khālid al-Zubayrī."
And "Jaʿfar al-Zubayrī", the narrator of this hadith, is mentioned in the second chain of transmission attributed to his grandfather, who is Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn Khālid, as clarified by Ibn Kathīr, and as Ibn Abī Ḥātim gave his biography in al-Jarḥ wa-l-Taʿdīl 1/1: 487–488, and Ibn Ḥajar in Lisān al-Mīzān 2: 124. al-Bukhārī also gave his biography in al-Kabīr 1/2: 189 attributed to his grandfather, then said: "Khālid ibn Makhlad said to me: Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn Khālid ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām narrated to us... and Maʿn said: from Jaʿfar ibn Khālid."
What is preferred in my view is that he is "Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn Khālid", for what we mentioned, and because Ibn Saʿd gave a biography for his grandfather "Khālid ibn al-Zubayr" 5: 137, listing his children, among whom were "Muḥammad the Elder" and "Muḥammad the Younger", and did not mention that he had a son named "Jaʿfar".
And it will come that al-Ṭabarī himself declares these two chains of transmission defective because Jaʿfar, their narrator, is "among those who are not known among the scholars of reports" (p. 89). Ibn Kathīr quoted that al-Bukhārī said regarding him: "He is not followed in his hadith," and al-Dhahabī similarly quoted him in al-Mīzān, followed by Ibn Ḥajar in Lisān al-Mīzān. However, al-Bukhārī gave a biography for him in and did not say any of this, nor did he mention any Discrediting regarding him, and likewise Ibn Abī Ḥātim mentioned no Discrediting regarding him, nor did al-Bukhārī or al-Nasāʾī list him in . Ibn Ḥajar quoted that Ibn Ḥibbān included him in . al-Bukhārī's inclusion of him in without Discrediting is an indication of his attestation of reliability according to him. These two factors are sufficient to rely upon his narration as evidence. Even if al-Ṭabarī did not know him among the scholars of reports, others certainly knew him.
In the first chain of transmission of these two is "Muḥammad ibn Khālid ibn ʿUthma", and al-Bukhārī gave his biography in 1/1: 73–74, saying: "Muḥammad ibn Khālid, and it is said: Ibn ʿUthma, and ʿUthma is his mother," and similarly in 3/2: 243, so "Ibn" should be written with an alif, nominative following "Muḥammad", and his mother "ʿUthma" is with a fatha on the unpointed ʿayn and a sukun on the three-dotted thāʾ. And this Muḥammad ibn Khālid is trustworthy.
His statement in both narrations "except a number of verses" was altered by the correctors of the printed edition to "verses that are counted." They did so where the wording of the hadith was repeated later.
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