Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah - Nasir al-Din al-Albani - (6/911)

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

That is what he said! Yet you have learned that the two of them recorded it only as an instruction of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, not as an account of his action. It is as though he held that the Prophet’s commanding it necessarily implies that he himself did it, in accordance with the principle: “Do you enjoin righteousness upon people while forgetting yourselves?”—unless there is evidence to the contrary. Here, although there is no such evidence, the variation in the reports from al-Bara’ between an instruction and an action indicates that both are authentically established from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.

Al-‘Ala’ ibn al-Musayyib combined the two in the hadith under discussion. After citing it as an account of the Prophet’s practice, peace and blessings be upon him, he concluded it with the Prophet’s words: “Whoever says them and then dies…” and then cited the rest of the hadith. This is mentioned in most of the reports that give the imperative wording. The two were likewise combined in the previously mentioned narration of Khalaf ibn Khalifah, despite its weakness; but it is strengthened by the narration of al-‘Ala’ and by the transmission routes we are about to mention. Al-Hafiz inclined to this view in al-Fath (11/110).

I subsequently reconsidered and said: Perhaps Abu al-Walid’s narration in al-Bayhaqi is not preserved, or perhaps one of the narrators abridged it and related the action while omitting the instruction. Al-Darimi said in his Sunan (2/290): “Abu al-Walid informed us: Shu‘bah narrated to us … that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, instructed a man, when he went to bed, to say…” Then he cited it.

Al-Tabarani collected its transmission routes from Abu Ishaq in al-Du‘a’ with a comprehensiveness I have not seen elsewhere. Among them is this route of Abu al-Walid, but he mentioned only one wording with it: the imperative wording. The same is found in al-Mu‘jam al-Saghir through one of those routes (no. 145—al-Rawd), and in another route in al-Mu‘jam al-Awsat (1/159/2975). However, Ibn Hibban recorded it (5502 and 5517), through a single chain from his teacher Abu Khalifah al-Fadl ibn al-Hubab, who said: “Abu al-Walid narrated to us both versions—the account of the Prophet’s words and that of his action—in two separate places.” This supports the conclusion we have reached: that the two should be combined. And Allah is the One who grants success.

Fourth: Abu al-Ahwas said: Abu Ishaq al-Hamdani narrated it to us with the imperative wording:

كذا قال! وقد عرفت أنهما إنما أخرجاه من أمره ﷺ، وليس من فعله، فكأنه يرى أن أمره ﷺ به يستلزم فعله إياه، لقاعدة * (أتأمرون الناس بالبر وتنسون أنفسكم) * إلا لدليل، وهنا مع أنه لا دليل، فاختلاف الروايات عن البراء ما بين أمر وفعل يدل على ثبوت الأمرين عنه ﷺ، وقد جمع بينهما العلاء بن المسيب في حديث الترجمة، فإنه بعد أن ساقه من فعله صلى الله عليه وسلم ختمه بقوله ﷺ: " من قالهن ثم مات.. " الحديث ، وهذا مذكور في أكثر روايات الأمر. وكذلك وقع الجمع في رواية خلف بن خليفة المتقدمة على ما فيه من ضعف، لكن يقويه رواية العلاء وما نحن في صدد ذكره من الطرق، وإلى هذا مال الحافظ في " الفتح " (١١ / ١١٠) . ثم استدركت فقلت: لعل رواية أبي الوليد عند البيهقي غير محفوظة، أو أن أحد الرواة اختصره فروى الفعل دون الأمر، فقد قال الدارمي في " سننه " (٢ / ٢٩٠) : أخبرنا أبو الوليد: حدثنا شعبة ... أن رسول الله ﷺ أمر رجلا إذا أخذ مضجعه أن يقول: فذكره. وقد استوعب الطبراني في " الدعاء " طرقه عن أبي إسحاق استيعابا واسعا لم أره لغيره، ومنها طريق أبي الوليد هذه، ولكنه لم يذكر معها إلا لفظا واحدا وهو لفظ الأمر، وكذلك هو في " المعجم الصغير " بإحدى تلك الطرق (رقم ١٤٥ - الروض) وأخرى في " المعجم الأوسط " (١ / ١٥٩ / ٢٩٧٥) لكن قد أخرجه ابن حبان (٥٥٠٢ و ٥٥١٧) بإسناد واحد عن شيخه أبي خليفة الفضل بن الحباب قال: حدثنا أبو الوليد بالمتنين قوله وفعله، مفرقا في موضعين، فهذا يؤيد ما ذهبنا إليه من الجمع. والله الموفق. رابعا: أبو الأحوص: حدثنا أبو إسحاق الهمداني به بلفظ الأمر: