Chapter: That Which is Related to the Statements ‘The Chain of Narration is from the Religion’; ‘Transmissions are not Taken Except from Trustworthy Narrators’; and ‘Criticism of the Narrators With What is Permissible Regarding Them, Even Obligatory and That It is not the Prohibited Kind of Backbiting, Rather it is the Defense of the Noble Sharī’ah’

Al-Faḍl bin Sahl narrated to me, he said Affān bin Muslim narrated to us, Hammām narrated to us, he said, Abū Dāwud al-A’mā came to us and began saying: ‘Al-Barā’ [bin Āzib, the Companion] narrated to us’; he said: ‘Zayd bin Arqam narrated to us’- and he mentioned that [those chains] to Qatādah. [Qatādah] said ‘He lied; he did not hear from them. He would beg the people asking [about Ḥadīth] at the time of the plague’ [circa 67H]. Hasan bin Alī al-Hulwānī narrated to me, he said Yazīd bin Hārūn narrated to us, Hammām informed us, he said ‘Abū Dāwud al-A’mā entered upon Qatādah and when he stood, they said: ‘Indeed this one alleges he has met eighteen of the warriors of the battle of Badr’. Qatādah said: ‘This one was barely asking [about Ḥadīth] before the plague; he did not attend to anything from [seeking Ḥadīth] and he did not speak [to any scholars] regarding it. By Allah, al-Hasan did not narrate to us from a witness of the battle of Badr without an intermediary; and Sa’īd bin al-Musayyib did not narrate to us from a witness of the battle of Badr without an intermediary except from Sa’d bin Mālik’. Uthmān bin Abī Shaybah narrated to us, Jarīr narrated to us, on authority of Raqabah that ‘Abū Ja’far al-Hāshimī al-Madanī was fabricating narrations with words of truth, and they were not from the narrations of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, though he was transmitting them on authority of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah upon him.’ Al-Hasan al-Hulwānī narrated to us, he said Nu’aym bin Hammād narrated to us, he said Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm bin Muhammad bin Sufyān said; and Muhammad bin Yahyā narrated to us, he said, Nu’aym bin Hammād narrated to us, Abū Dāwud at-Tayālisī narrated to us, on authority of Shu’bah, on authority of Yūnus bin Ubayd, he said: ‘Amr bin Ubayd would lie regarding Ḥadīth’. Amr bin Alī Abū Hafs narrated to me, he said I heard Mu’ādh bin Mu’ādh saying, I said to Awf bin Abī Jamīlah ‘Indeed Amr bin Ubayd narrated to us on authority of al-Hasan that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, said: ‘Whoever carries arms against us then he is not from us’. [Awf bin Abī Jamīlah] said ‘Amr lied, by Allah. Rather he intended it as a way to permit his filthy opinion.’ Ubayd Allah bin Umar al-Qawārīrī narrated to us, Hammād bin Zayd narrated to us, he said: ‘A man kept company with Ayyūb and listened [to Ḥadīth] from him, but then Ayyūb did not find him [one day]. [When Ayyūb asked, the people] said: ‘Oh Abā Bakr, indeed he keeps company with Amr bin Ubayd [now]’. Hammād said: ‘One day we were with Ayyūb, and we went to the market early in the morning. A man came to meet Ayyūb so he gave Salām to him, asked how he was doing, and then Ayyūb said to him: ‘It reached me that you kept company with that man’. Hammād said: ‘[Ayyūb] designated him, that is to say ‘Amr’.’ [The man] said: ‘Yes, Oh Abā Bakr. Indeed he came to us with strange things [i.e. reports]’. Ayyūb said to him: ‘Indeed we flee…’ or ‘…we fear from these strange things [transmissions]’. Hajjāj bin ash-Shā’ir narrated to me, Sulaymān bin Harb narrated to us, Ibn Zayd, rather Hammād, narrated to us, he said, it was said to Ayyūb, ‘Indeed Amr bin Ubayd transmitted on authority of al-Hasan that he said: ‘There is no flogging the one who gets drunk from Nabīdh’.’ [Ayyūb] said: ‘He lied, for I heard al-Hasan saying, ‘Flog the one who gets drunk from Nabīdh’.