بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله وحده و الصلاة و السلام على من لا نبي بعده و على آله و أصحابه أجمعين

1- Al-A’mash: And from him at least five people narrate it. See Sahih Bukhari etc.



2- Yunus bin ‘Ubaid: And from him at least three narrators report this narration. See Sahih Muslim etc.



3- Musa bin al-Musayyab al-Thaqafi: From him it is narrated by Abdah bin Sulayman, See Al-‘Uzmah of Abu al-Shaykh al-Asbahani 4/1189

red

Someone being alone in transmitting

The sound hadith can be neither anomalous (shaadh) nor defective (mu’allal),

Conclusion

4- Abdul A’la al-Taymi: The narrator down from him is Mis’ar, See Hilyah al-Awliya 5/895- Harun bin Sa’d: Abdul Ghaffar bin al-Qasim narrates from him. See Al-‘Uzmah of Abu al-Shaykh al-Asbahani 4/1191 and Al-Tabarani’s Mu’jam Al-Awst, Hadith 44706- Al-Hakam bin ‘Utaybah: The sole narrator down from him is Sufyan bin Husain, See Sunan Abu Dawud, Musnad Ahmad, Mustadrak al-Hakim, Musnad al-Bazzar etc.Of all these various routes from Ibrahim bin Yazid al-Taymi, it isthrough Al-Hakam bin ‘Utaybah that these wordsare narrated.In short, there are six narrators reporting the hadith from Ibrahim bin Yazid, and only one of them i.e. Al-Hakam bin ‘Utaybah quotes the particular words. And to add to the trouble there is again only one narrator down from him and he is Sufyan bin Husain whereas parallel to Sufyan there are at least eleven people narrating the hadith without these words on the authority of five different people narrating from Ibrahim bin Yazid.Following flow diagram for the above detail gives the pictorial display the strangeness of these words. Down from Ibrahim bin Yazid al-Taymi only the narrators withoutline for their names give the words under consideration against loads of other narrators who do not report these words.The narration is anomalous () and defective ():This fact alone is enough to make the narration dubious. No doubt both Al-Hakam and Sufyan aretrustworthy narrators but because on their respective levels they go against much reliable and numerous narrators. Such a narration reported this way is termed as “shaadh” i.e. anomalous.Carefully read the definition of anomalous () hadith given by Ibn al-Salah (d. 643 A.H.) in his, “” translated under the title “An Introduction to the Science of Hadith”;(An Introduction to the Science of Hadith, Translated by Dr. Eerik Dickinson, Garnet Publishing Ltd. Berkshire 2006 p.57)Also see the definition of defective () hadith given by Ibn Salah;(An Introduction to the Science of Hadith, p.67)And when a report or a part of it becomes “shaadh” it ceases to be a(sound) report. For this the definition of a “Sahih hadith” will help.Hafiz Ibn Salah writes;(An Introduction to the Science of Hadith, p.5)So merely being “sahih al-isnaad” is not enough for the report itself to be sahih.Therefore, the very fact that Al-Hakam bin ‘Utaybah’s narrates differently from five other narrators reporting it on the authority of Ibrahim bin Yazid al-Taymi, makes the narration “shaadh” (anomalous) which is a kind of weak () reports.But the trouble with the narration does not end here. Down from Al-Hakam bin ‘Utaybah, Sufyan bin Husain is also unique in narrating these words whereas the number of narrators down from narrators other than Al-Hakam narrating it from Ibrahim al-Taymi is at least eleven. There is not a single supporting narrator for Sufyan either.Hafiz Al-Bazzar (d. 292 A.H.) after giving this narration writes;(Musnad Al-Bazzar- Bahr al-Zakhkhar, under Hadith 4010)And this is important, not only because it adds more to the oddity of the narration, but also because Sufyan bin Husain though generally considered authentic was also criticized by few scholars. This criticism does not harm his general narrations but becomes significant when he goes out of the way and narrates what other narrators from the same original source do not.Muhammad ibn Sa’d said about him:(Tabaqat al-Kubra, Dar al-Kotob al-Ilmiyya, Beirut, 1990, vol.7 p.227 No. 3417)These details make it quite clear that according to rules of reporting it is not right to attribute these words to the Messenger of Allah- on him be the peace and blessings of Allah.Apparently, the words from Qur’an 18:86 were confused and appended to the hadith that had no link to the ayah whatsoever. The narrator failed to understand the real significance of the verse and the hadith and for apparent semblance he confused the two.The verse from the Holy Qur’an i.e. surah 18 ayah 86 is simply about how the sunset appeared to Zulqarnain and even the classical Muslim scholars understood it like that. The detailed explanation of it is foundAs to the meanings of the Hadith of Abu Dharr- may Allah be pleased with him- about the sun prostrating under the Throne (‘) of Allah, visitfor explanation.So the excitement of the missionaries is in vain. Pity!