declaring weak hadiths that they have authenticated, such as: “Show mercy to those on earth, and the One in heaven will show mercy to you.” Nor does he stop at that; rather, he even opposes his Ghumārī shaykhs, who likewise authenticated it. As you will find documented in Addendum no. 12 at the end of the second volume of the new edition of al-Ṣaḥīḥah, by the grace and favor of Allah, Most High.
Note: I then came across a hadith whose apparent wording conflicts with the hadith of ʿAwf ibn Mālik, which prohibits taking up the sword against imams and rulers. I considered it necessary to clarify its status, lest some ignorant Kharijites of this age, or anyone lacking knowledge of this noble discipline and of hadith jurisprudence, should seize upon it. It was narrated by al-Ṭabarānī in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (11/39–40), through the chain of al-Hayyāj ibn Bisṭām, from Layth, from Ṭāwūs, from Ibn ʿAbbās, attributed to the Prophet:
“There will be rulers whom you will recognize and disapprove of. Whoever opposes them will be saved; whoever keeps away from them will be safe; and whoever associates with them will perish.”
This chain of transmission is extremely weak. Layth—who is Ibn Abī Sulaym—was weak and became confused in his narrations; and al-Hayyāj ibn Bisṭām—al-Khurāsānī—is unanimously deemed weak. Indeed, Ibn Ḥibbān accused him, saying: “He narrates fabricated reports from trustworthy narrators.” Al-Haythamī likewise identified this as its defect (5/228).
I say: al-Suyūṭī also attributed this hadith to Ibn Abī Shaybah—that is, in al-Muṣannaf—but despite an exhaustive search, I did not find it there. If its chain proves sound in his work or elsewhere, then his words, “whoever opposes them,” must be understood as opposing them verbally, through enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong—not with the sword—in order to reconcile it with the hadith of ʿAwf, as required by scholarly principles and the rules of the Sacred Law. If it is not sound, then we reject it because of the severe weakness of its chain of transmission. And Allah knows best. *