“for it is more consistent with the Qur’an and closer to the opinions of the leading Imams.”
I add: As for the report of Jābir on which Abū Ḥanīfah relied, it is not authentic. It is transmitted by Sharik, from Ashʿath ibn Sawār, from al-Ḥasan, from Jābir, and appears in the Musnad through two routes, both of which pass through Sharik. The report has two flaws:
- Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī relates it with an ʿan-form transmission, and he was guilty of tadlīs, as stated in Taqrīb and elsewhere.
- Sharik—the judge—is weak in terms of retention.
However, the narration has reached us with a strong chain as a mawqūf statement of Jābir, and this is the correct version. After citing it in that suspended form, Abū Bakr al-Jassāṣ wrote:
“ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Marwazī told us; al-Ḥasan ibn Abī al-Rabīʿ al-Jurjānī told us; ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us; Ibn Jurayj informed us; Abū al-Zubayr informed me that he heard Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh say about the verse, ‘Indeed the polytheists are unclean; so let them not approach the Sacred Mosque’ (Qur’an 9:28): ‘except if he is a slave or someone from the people under covenant (ahl al-dhimmah).’ ”
I say: This chain is sound. ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq is Abū al-Qāsim, known as Ḥāmiḍ Raʾsahu; al-Khaṭīb mentioned him in his History and said: “al-Burqānī said, ‘I asked al-Abharī about him and he replied: trustworthy; he died in the year 329 AH.’ ”
His teacher, al-Ḥasan ibn Abī al-Rabīʿ al-Jurjānī, is one of Ibn Mājah’s shaykhs; he is al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā ibn al-Jaʿd ibn Nashīṭ. Al-Khaṭīb likewise recorded his biography and said: