_ living islam : Islamic tradition _ https://www.livingislam.org/ Story Of Walid Ibn Al-Mughirah's Plotting In The Seera Q: How authentic [does] Imam adh-Dhahabi [view] the story > of Walid al-Mughirah plotting against the Qur'an and the Imam mentions a > chain which I didn't find in the Seera of Ibn Hishaam. ... > > The Imam has not commented on the narration after citing it. ... > The narration begins with: > > Qaala Yunus ibn Bukair 'an Ibn Ishaaq haddathanee Muhammad ibn Abi > Muhammad 'an Sa'eed ibn Jubair aw 'Ikrima 'an Ibn 'Abbaas anna al-Walid > ibn al-Mughirata....the narration is when al-Walid and a group of the > Quraysh gather to agreed upon one opinion about the Prophet (sallAllahu > 'alayhi wa sallam) and in the end al-Walid says: 'inna aqraba al-qawl an > naqula saahirun yufarriqu baina al-mar-i wa baina ibnihi...' > > [question]: what do the scholars of > hadith say about Muhammad ibn Abi Muhammad's narrations? ... A: Muhammad ibn Abi Muhammad al-Ansari is "not known" (la yu`raf) according to al-Dhahabi in the Mizan and "unknown" (majhul) according to Ibn Hajar in al-Taqrib because, as the latter says, only Ibn Ishaq narrates from him. Al-Bukhari has an entry on him in al-Tarikh al-Kabir as does Ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi in al-Jarh wal-Ta`dil, both of them without comment on his rank. On this basis, the apparent ruling is that this chain is weak because of him, as was al-Albani's conclusion. However: 1. The very same chain is found for the report of the Prophet's (upon him blessings and peace) letter to the Jews of Khaybar in Sunan Abi Dawud (Kharaj, Kayfa kana Ikhraj al-Yahud min al-Madina) who narrates it from his shaykh Musarraf ibn `Amr al-Ayami, from Yunus ibn Bukayr etc. and he did not declare it weak. 2. Ibn Hibban declared Muhammad ibn Abi Muhammad trustworthy in his Thiqat to which al-Dhahabi alluded in al-Kashif by saying in the passive voice: "He was declared trustworthy." 3. Al-Diya' al-Maqdisi included two reports with that chain his Ahadith al-Mukhtara (10:351-353 - Musnad of Muhammad ibn Abi Muhammad), which he intended as a book of hasan and sahih reports. 4. Ibn Hajar declared the chain "hasan" in Fath al-Bari (7:332 - Maghazi, Hadith Bani al-Nadir). 5. Al-Zayla`i in Nasb al-Raya (4:419) cites the report of Abu Dawud among the proofs of the Prophet's sending out written messages in his mission. 6. Ibn Kathir in his Tafsir relies on that chain in several places for various Sira-related reports, and he does not weaken it. 7. Ibn `Adi said of Ibn Ishaq: "I searched hard among the hadiths of Ibn Ishaq and could not find anything that can readily be described as weak." 8. It has been said that the silence of al-Bukhari and Ibn Abi Hatim on a narrator they mention is tantamount not to a weakening but to a tacit acceptance. All this suggests we that this particular report is only slightly weak unless some more pronounced flaw can be found for it besides the status of Muhammad ibn Abi Muhammad al-Ansari, wAllahu a`lam. GF Haddad 2008-12-28