68 – Abū al-Shaʿthāʾ Sulaym ibn Aswad al-Muhāribī al-Kūfī * (ʿ)
He is Sulaym ibn Aswad al-Muhāribī, the jurist from Kūfah and a close companion of ʿAlī.
He narrated from ʿAlī and took part with him in his campaigns.
He also transmitted reports from Ḥudhayfah; Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī; Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī; Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī; Abū Hurayrah; ʿĀʾishah; Ibn ʿUmar; and others.
Among those who related from him are his son, Ashʿath ibn Abī al-Shaʿthāʾ; Abū Sakhrah Jāmiʿ ibn Shaddād; Ibrāhīm ibn Muhājir; Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit; and many more.
The hadith critics unanimously regard him as trustworthy.
When Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī was asked about him, he replied, “A man like him is beyond being questioned.” (1)
It is reported that Abū al-Shaʿthāʾ al-Muhāribī was killed on the Day of al-Zāwiyah (2) alongside Ibn al-Ashʿath in the year 82 AH.
As for Abū al-Shaʿthāʾ (ʿ), the scholar of Baṣrah, he is younger than the foregoing figure, and he will be mentioned later. (3)
69 – ʿĀbis ibn Rabīʿah al-Nakhaʿī ** (ʿ)
A Kufan, classed as a Mukhadram—one who lived during both the pre-Islamic era and Islam without meeting the Prophet—he is an authoritative transmitter.
= Chapter: “Most of the inhabitants of Paradise are the poor,” transmitted through several isnads from Sulayman al-Taymi, from Abu Uthman, from Usama b. Zayd.
The term “ashab al-jad” means the well-off, while “mahbusun” means that they are detained—kept from entering Paradise together with the poor—until they have given account of their wealth.
(*) Ibn Saad, Tabaqat, 6/195; Khalifa, Tabaqat, no. 1099; al-Bukhari, Tarikh, 4/120; Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Jarh wa-l-taʿdil, vol. 2, part 1, p. 211; al-Mizzi, Tahdhib al-kamal, p. 530; al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-Islam, 3/318; al-Dhahabi, al-Ibar, 1/95; Ibn Hajar, Tadhhib al-tahdhib, 2/43 b; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-tahdhib, 4/165; Ibn Taghri, al-Nujum al-zahira, 1/204; Ibn Hajar, Khulasat Tadhhib al-tahdhib, p. 149; Ibn al-Imad, Shadharat al-dhahab, 1/91.
(1) Abu Hatim’s statement in al-Jarh wa-l-taʿdil: “He is one of the tabiʿin; no further questioning about him is needed.”
(2) Al-Zawiya is a locality near Basra where the famous battle between al-Hajjaj and Ibn al-Ashʿath took place; see al-Tabari, 6/342.
(3) For his biography, see p. 481 of this volume.
(* *) Ibn Saad, Tabaqat, 6/122; Khalifa, Tabaqat, no. 1063; al-Bukhari, Tarikh, 7/80; Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Jarh…