Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah - Nasir al-Din al-Albani - (7/1102)

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

those concerning whom He said: “Whoever among you turns back from his religion, Allah will bring forth a people whom He loves and who love Him.” It has also been reported that, when this verse was revealed, he was asked about these people, and he mentioned that they were the people of Abu Musa al-Ashari (1). Authentic hadiths have likewise been reported, such as his saying: “The people of Yemen have come to you: they are more tender-hearted and gentler in feeling. Faith is Yemeni, and wisdom is Yemeni.” (2) They were the ones who fought the apostates and conquered the lands; through them, the Most Merciful relieved the believers of their hardships. Whoever restricts this to Uways has gone far astray.”

I say: In light of this meaning, the hadith is not one of the hadiths concerning the divine attributes. For this reason, al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi did not include it among them in his book al-Uluww, which I abridged and which has been printed. This is contrary to Shaykh Zahid al-Kawthari, who cast doubt upon its authenticity, as mentioned above, along with the response to him. For this reason, Ibn Taymiyyah declared false what al-Ghazali related from some of the Hanbalis: that Imam Ahmad gave figurative interpretations to only three matters, this hadith being one of them. He said (5/398):

“This account is a lie against Ahmad. No one has transmitted it from him with a chain of transmission, nor is anyone among his companions known to have transmitted it from him. This Hanbali is unknown; he is not known.”

I then saw that Ibn al-Athir cited the hadith under the entry for nafas in al-Nihayah, saying:

“It has been said that it refers to the Ansar, for through them Allah relieved the believers of their hardships. They are Yemenis because they are from al-Azd. Al-Azhari said: In the hadith, nafas is a noun used in place of the proper verbal noun of naffasa yunaffisu, namely tanfis and nafas, just as one says farraja yufarriju, namely tafrij and faraj. It is as though he said: ‘I find your Lord’s bringing relief coming from the direction of Yemen.’”

(1) There are several hadiths whose combined evidence establishes the soundness of this; see the following hadith. (2) Agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim; it is also cited in Al-Rawd al-Nadir (no. 1045).

قال فيهم: (من يرتد منكم عن دينه فسوف يأتي الله بقوم يحبهم ويحبونه) ؛ وقد روي أنه لما نزلت هذه الآية؛ سئل عن هؤلاء؛ فذكر أنهم قوم أبي موسى الأشعري (١) . وجاءت الأحاديث الصحيحة، مثل قوله: "أتاكم أهل اليمن، أرق قلوباً، وألين أفئدة، الإيمان يمان، والحكمة يمانية " (٢) . وهؤلاء هم الذين قاتلوا أهل الردة، وفتحوا الأمصار، فبهم نفس الرحمن عن المؤمنين الكربات، ومن خصص ذلك بأويس؛ فقد أبعد". قلت: وعلى هذا المعنى فليس الحديث من أحاديث الصفات، ولذلك لم يورده الحافظ الذهبي في جملة أحاديثها في كتابه "العلو" الذي كنت اختصرته، وهو مطبوع، خلافاً للشيخ زاهد الكوثري الذي غمز من صحته كما تقدم مع الرد عليه، ولذلك كذب ابن تيمية ﵀ ما حكاه الغزالي عن بعض الحنابلة أن الإمام أحمد لم يتأول إلا ثلاثة أشياء؛ منها هذا الحديث، فقال (٥/٣٩٨) : "فهذه الحكاية كذب على أحمد، لم ينقلها أحد عنه بإسناد، ولا يعرف أحد من أصحابه نقل ذلك عنه، وهذا الحنبلي مجهول لا يعرف ". ثم رأيت ابن الأثير قد أورد الحديث في مادة (نفس) من "النهاية "، وقال: "قيل: عنى به الأنصار؛ لأن الله نفس بهم الكرب عن المؤمنين، وهم يمانون؛ لأنهم من الأزد، قال الأزهري: (النفس) في الحديث اسم وضع موضع المصدر الحقيقي من: (نفس ينفس تنفيساً ونفساً) ، كما يقال: (فرج يفرج تفريجاً وفرجاً) ؛ كأنه قال: أجد تنفيس ربكم من قبل اليمن ".

(١) فيه عدة أحاديث يدل مجموعها على صحة ذلك؛ انظر الحديث الآتي. (٢) متفق عليه، وهو مخرج في "الروض النضير" (١٠٤٥) . *******