was it that people were saying?” He replied:
“God forbid that the integrity of someone like him could be shaken by the lie of a spiteful aggressor or a jealous rival.
He then said, “His books on jurisprudence were the finest of works, but people abandoned them because of their length. (1)”
Abū al-ʿAynaʾ related: A certain eloquent man was asked about Yaḥyā ibn Aktham and Aḥmad ibn Abī Dāwūd, “Which of them is the more distinguished?” He answered, “Aḥmad is earnest with his slave-girl and in his own household, whereas Yaḥyā jokes with his enemy and adversary. (2)”
Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī said, “He is subject to scrutiny. (3)”
Jaʿfar ibn Abī ʿUthmān, quoting Ibn Maʿīn, said, “He used to lie.”
Ibn Rāhwayh remarked, “That impostor narrates reports from Ibn al-Mubārak.”
ʿAlī ibn al-Junayd said, “He steals hadith. (4)”
Ṣāliḥ Jazara said, “He related traditions from Ibn Idrīs that he never heard from him.”
Abū al-Fatḥ al-Azdī said, “He transmitted astonishing reports from reliable narrators.”
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “O people, I had allowed you to contract temporary enjoyment with women, but Allah has now forbidden it until the Day of Resurrection. Whoever still has such a woman in his charge must release her, and do not take back anything you had given them.”
See Ibn al-Qayyim, Zad al-Maad, 3/459, 464.
(1) The report is discussed in: al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, 14/200; al-Mizzi, Tahdhib al-Kamal, entries 1486, 1487; Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-Ayan, 6/149, 151; Ibn Abi Ya‘la, Tabaqat al-Hanabila, 1/413.
(2) Tarikh Baghdad, 14/198; Wafayat al-Ayan, 6/148.
(3) Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Jarh wa-l-Ta‘dil, 9/129.
(4) al-Jarh wa-l-Ta‘dil, 9/129.
Al-Sakhawi states in Sharh al-Alfiyyah, p. 160: “The theft of hadith occurs when a transmitter is the sole narrator of a report, and another person comes and falsely claims that he too heard it from that same shaykh; or when a report is known through one narrator and the thief assigns it to a different narrator of the same generation.”
Al-Dhahabi adds that stealing manuscript parts or whole books is far worse than the narrative theft perpetrated by some transmitters.
He also says in Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala, 11/504: “Abu Ahmad al-Assal related: I heard Fadhlak say, ‘I entered upon Ibn Humayd while he was attaching isnads to texts.’” Al-Dhahabi comments: “His flaw lies in this practice; otherwise, I do not believe he fabricated the texts themselves. This is what is meant when they say, ‘He steals hadith.’”