he repeated the call a second time.
Al-Zubayr replied, “I will,” and rode off.
Then he called a third time, whereupon the Prophet ﷺ said, “Every prophet has a close disciple, and my disciple is al-Zubayr.” (1)
A number of transmitters relate this ḥadīth from Ibn al-Munkadir on his authority.
Another group narrates it through Hishām, from his father, from Ibn al-Zubayr, who said:
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘Indeed every prophet has a disciple, and my disciple is al-Zubayr.’” (2)
Abū Muʿāwiyah narrates—from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from Ibn al-Munkadir, from Jābir—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Al-Zubayr is the son of my paternal aunt and the disciple of mine from this community.” (3)
Yūnus ibn Bukayr reports—from Hishām, from his father, from al-Zubayr—that al-Zubayr said:
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ took me by the hand and said, ‘Every prophet has a disciple; my disciple is al-Zubayr, the son of my paternal aunt.’” (4)
And, through my chain of transmission in the Musnad back to Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal: Muʿāwiyah ibn ʿAmr narrated to us
(1) Reported by Ahmad, 3/307, 314, 338, 365; al-Bukhari, no. 3719 (Virtues of the Companions, chapter on the merits of al-Zubayr); Muslim, no. 2415 (Virtues, chapter on the merits of Talha and al-Zubayr); al-Tirmidhi, no. 3745 (Biographical Merits, chapter on the merits of al-Zubayr); Ibn Majah, no. 122 (Introduction, chapter on the merits of al-Zubayr); al-Tabarani in al-Kabir, no. 227; also in Ibn Saad, al-Tabaqat, 3/1/74; and by al-Humaydi, no. 1231.
The term hawari (disciple or intimate supporter) designates a person’s pure, chosen confidant, as though he were free from every defect. From the same root comes tahwir al-thiyab, “whitening or laundering clothes.” The disciples of Jesus were likewise called hawariyyun because, according to one view, they were fullers who whitened garments; another opinion says that hawari means “helper,” and when these followers rallied to Jesus and assisted him they were so described.
(2) Chain of transmission sound. Also reported by Ahmad, 4/4; cited by al-Haythami in Majmaʿ al-Zawaʾid, attributing it to Ahmad and to al-Tabarani. Al-Haythami notes that Ahmad’s uninterrupted chain is composed of transmitters found in the two Sahihs. The printed edition gives the correct wording “from Ibn al-Zubayr,” yet in the errata the editor advised reading “from al-Zubayr,” omitting “Ibn,” which is mistaken, for the hadith belongs to the Musnad of ʿAbd Allah b. al-Zubayr, not to that of his father al-Zubayr.
(3) Chain of transmission sound; also reported by Ahmad, 3/314.
(4) Reported by Ibn Saad, 3/1/73; declared authentic by al-Hakim, 3/362, and al-Dhahabi concurred; their judgment is sound.