Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah - Nasir al-Din al-Albani - (6/904)

Silsilat al-Ahadith al-SahihahNasir al-Din al-Albani

from narrator criticism, and he reinforced this by the practice of hadith scholars in including reports of this type in their Musnad collections. There is no doubt that the standing of one whose case is thus is lower than that of those previously mentioned. One instance of this type is when a Successor says, for example: “So-and-so informed me that he heard the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say …,” whether he names him or not.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ considered Companionship to be established by this, for shortly before this he said, under “The Second Section: Means of Knowing Whether a Person Is a Companion”: “This is known through several means. The first is that he is established to be a Companion through mutawātir transmission; then through widespread report and renown; then through the report of one of the Companions that so-and-so was a Companion, for example; and likewise through a report from an individual Successor, based on accepting accreditation from one person—which is the preferred view.” Allah knows best.

I say: This was also the practice of the Imam of the Sunnah, Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—may Allah have mercy on him—in his Musnad. It contains dozens of hadiths from a number of unnamed Companions, concerning whom a Successor says: “from one of the Prophet’s Companions,” or “from one who had seen the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace”; at times, “the Prophet’s servant, may Allah bless him and grant him peace”; and very often, “a man from among the Prophet’s Companions, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.” There are many, very many, such examples. This will become clear to anyone who consults my book Index of the Narrators of the Musnad, printed at the beginning of the Musnad; indeed, if these were compiled into a book, it would make a large volume. There are also a great many such examples in works tracing hadiths to their sources, including this Silsilah.

2888 — “I wish that I had met my brethren.” His Companions said, “Are we not your brethren?” He said, “You are my Companions, but my brethren are those who believed in me without having seen me.”

Aḥmad recorded it (3/155): Hāshim ibn al-Qāsim narrated to us; Jisr (the original reads: Ḥasan) narrated to us, from Thābit, from Anas, who said: The Messenger of Allah said this.

من الجرح، وقوى ذلك بتصرف أئمة الحديث في تخريجهم أحاديث هذا الضرب في مسانيدهم، ولا ريب في انحطاط رتبة من هذا سبيله عن من مضى، ومن صور هذا الضرب أن يقول التابعي: " أخبرني فلان مثلا أنه سمع النبي ﷺ يقول "، سواء أسماه أم لا ". وقد رجح الحافظ ثبوت الصحبة بذلك فقد قال قبيل ذلك: " الفصل الثاني: في الطريق إلى معرفة كون الشخص صحابيا ": " وذلك بأشياء أولها أن يثبت بطريق التواتر أنه صحابي، ثم بالاستفاضة والشهرة، ثم بأن يروي عن أحد من الصحابة أن فلانا له صحبة مثلا، وكذا عن آحاد التابعين بناء على قبول التزكية من واحد وهو الراجح ". والله أعلم. قلت: وعلى هذا جرى إمام السنة أحمد بن حنبل ﵀ في " مسنده "، فإن فيه عشرات الأحاديث عن جماعة من الصحابة لم يسموا، يقول التابعي فيهم: عن بعض أصحاب النبي ﷺ، أو بعض من شهد النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم، وتارة: " خادم النبي ﷺ "، وأحيانا كثيرة: " رجل من أصحاب النبي ﷺ "، ونحوه كثير وكثير جدا، يتبين ذلك بوضوح لمن يراجع كتابي " فهرس رواة المسند " المطبوع في أول " المسند "، بحيث لو جمع ذلك في كتاب لكان في مجلد كبير. وفي كتب " التخريج " من ذلك الشيء الكثير، ومنها هذه " السلسلة ". ٢٨٨٨ - " وددت أني لقيت إخواني، فقال أصحابه: أوليس نحن إخوانك؟ قال: أنتم أصحابي ولكن إخواني الذين آمنوا بي ولم يروني ". أخرجه أحمد (٣ / ١٥٥) : حدثنا هاشم بن القاسم حدثنا جسر (الأصل: حسن) عن ثابت عن أنس قال: قال رسول الله ﷺ: فذكره.