from behind the chambers’

—and the rest of the verse. The reverence due to him after his death is the same as that due to him during his lifetime.”

Abū Jaʿfar yielded to these words and said:

“Abū ʿAbd Allāh, should I face the qiblah and supplicate, or should I face the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace?”

He replied:

“Why would you turn your face away from him, when he is your means of approach to Allah on the Day of Resurrection, and that of your father Adam, peace be upon him? Rather, face him and seek his intercession, so that Allah may grant your request for intercession. Allah Most High says:

‘If, when they wronged themselves, they had come to you and sought Allah’s forgiveness, and the Messenger had sought forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah ever Accepting of repentance, Merciful.’”

I say: This account has a disconnected chain of transmission. Muhammad ibn Humayd al-Rāzī did not meet Mālik, much less during the time of Abū Jaʿfar al-Mansūr. Abū Jaʿfar died in Mecca in 158 AH, while Mālik died in 179 AH.

Muhammad ibn Humayd al-Rāzī died in 248 AH. He did not leave his hometown to travel in pursuit of knowledge until he was grown, accompanying his father. Moreover, most hadith scholars considered him weak. Abū Zurʿah and Ibn Wāra declared him a liar. Sālih ibn Muhammad al-Asadī said:

“I have never seen anyone more brazen toward Allah or more adept at lying than he.”

Yaʿqūb ibn Shabība said:

“He transmitted many objectionable reports.”

Al-Nasā’ī said:

“He is not trustworthy.”

Ibn Hibbān said:

“He is alone in transmitting inverted reports from trustworthy narrators.”

The last person to transmit al-Muwatta’ from Mālik was Abū Musʿab, who died in 242 AH. The last person to transmit anything from Mālik was Abū Hudhayfah Ahmad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Sahmī, who died in 259 AH. The chain also includes narrators whose standing is unknown. None of Mālik’s followers known to have studied under him mentioned this account.