and he used to honor his guests—will any of that profit him on the Day of Resurrection? He replied:
“He never once said, ‘My Lord, forgive me my sin on the Day of Reckoning.’”
A Note on Imruʾ al-Qays ibn Ḥujr al-Kindī, the poet of one of the Seven Muʿallaqāt—indeed the most celebrated and illustrious of them, whose opening verse reads:
Stop, let us weep for the memory of a beloved and a dwelling-place…
Imām Aḥmad related:
Hushaym narrated to us; Abū al-Jahm narrated from al-Zuhrī, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) declared,
“Imruʾ al-Qays, the standard-bearer of the poets, is bound for the Fire.”
A great many transmitters reported this ḥadīth from Hushaym—among them Bishr ibn al-Ḥakam, al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafah, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hārūn (the Caliph al-Maʾmūn, brother of al-Amīn), and Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn. Ibn ʿAdī also recorded it through ʿAbd al-Razzāq, from al-Zuhrī, with the same chain. Yet the chain is disconnected, and although it has been transmitted by another route from Abū Hurayrah, it is not sound through any path other than this one.
(1) This was mentioned just above at the start of the discussion on Hatim al-Tai, with its citation given there. Ibn Judan was one of those who forbade wine in the pre-Islamic (jahiliyyah) period. See al-Muhbir, p. 237; his reports appear in al-Aghani (Thaqafa vol. 8, p. 329 ff.).
(2) The term “mentioned” does not appear in manuscript Ṭ; in manuscript B it reads al-Mu‘allaqat al-Sab‘ (the Seven Suspended Odes).
(3) In edition A.T. it reads Hisham, which is an error.
(4) See al-Musnad (vol. 2, p. 228) and al-Jamiʿ al-Saghir (vol. 1, p. 217); its chain is weak.
(5) See al-Kamil (vol. 4, p. 1404).
(6) The author’s statement here is mistaken. He seems to have taken ‘Abd al-Razzāq to be Ibn Hammad al-San‘ani and thus attributed this passage to him, whereas the narrator is actually ‘Abd al-Razzāq ibn ‘Umar al-Thaqafi al-Dimashqi, who is counted among the weak, abandoned narrators and the known fabricators of al-Zuhri’s circle (see Tahdhib al-Kamal vol. 18, pp. 48–50 and commentary). Ibn ‘Adi also ascribes this hadith to him in his biography of Abu al-Jahm al-Iyadi: “This hadith has been reported from ‘Abd al-Razzāq ibn ‘Umar al-Dimashqi on the authority of al-Zuhri, as narrated by Abu al-Jahm,” then transmits it by his own chain (al-Kamil vol. 4, p. 1404). He mentions him again under Hisham ibn Bushayr (vol. 7, p. 2598) and under Abu al-Jahm in the section on kunyas (vol. 7, p. 2755). (Dr. Bashar)
(7) Ibn ‘Adi records it in al-Kamil (vol. 1, p. 204), after which his student ‘Aqibah commented: “This hadith is invalid on this chain.”
(8) His remark “and it is not authentic except by this route” means that it is only known through Abu al-Jahm, not that it is sound. Abu al-Jahm is a weak narrator, as Imam Abu Zur‘ah al-Razi states in Kitab al-Du‘afa (vol. 2, p. 527) and Ibn Hibban notes in al-Majruhin (vol. 3, p. 150): “One may not use his narration as evidence when he stands alone.” Hence the chain is extremely weak. Accordingly, Ibn al-Jawzi includes it in al-Ilal al-Mutanahiyya fi al-Ahadith al-Wahiyya (vol. 1, p. 138), and al-Suyuti marks it weak in al-Jamiʿ al-Saghir (vol. 1, p. 217).