7.3. IBN TAYMIYYAH’S OPINION ON AL-QUSHAYN’S RISALAH
The point is that there are sound, weak, and forged narrations from the Prophet and the Salaf in Risalah and other works of the jurists and the Sufis. The sound reports are those that are proven truthful, the forged are those that are proven false, and the weak are those that are narrated by people whose truthfulness is unknown because of their bad memory or due to being accused of lying. The truthfulness of the latter group cannot be totally negated, for a sinner might speak the truth and one prone to error may remember something correctly.
Most chapters of Risalah contain all three types, including the Chapter of Contentment which states that the Prophet said: “He who is pleased with Allah as his Lord, Islam as his religion, and Muhammad as his Prophet, has tasted faith.” This hadlth was related by Muslim in his Sahlh with a sound chain, but the Ustadh did not say this.
In the beginning of the chapter there is a weak or in fact a forged hadlth, namely the long hadlth of Jabir which he narrates through the route of Fadl Ibn ‘Isa al-Raqashi, from Muhammad Ibn al-Munkadir, from Jabir.
This is the first hadith in the chapter, even though the hadiths of al-Fadl Ibn Tsa are extremely weak and disclaimed, which is why the Imams agree that they cannot be relied upon or used as evidence. That being said, even though the weakness of his reports is evident, he did not lie on purpose; he is just like the many jurists whose narrations are not accepted not because they are liars but because they have a bad memory.
The scholars agree that this RaqashI narrator is weak and the Imams of science are well aware of this: Ayyub al-Sakhtiyanl said: ‘Had he been born mute it would have been better for him.’ Sufyan Ibn ‘Uyaynah said: ‘He is nothing.’ Imam Ahmad and al-Nasa’I said: ‘He is weak.’ Yahya Ibn Ma’In said: ‘He is a man of evil.’ Abu Hatim and Abu Zur( ah said: ‘His hadiths are rejected.’ The same goes for other than Prophetic narrations (in the book).
They include good reports with good chains like the statement of Shaykh Abu Sulayman al-Darani: ‘When the servant has forgotten his desires he is content.’ This man narrated the statement from his Shaykh Abu Abdu’ l -Rahman al Sulaml with his chain. Shaykh Abu ‘Abdu’ l- Rahman used focus collecting and stories of these Shaykhs biographical works such as Tabaqat al-Sufiyyah (Biographies of the Sufis) and Zuhhadal-Salaf (Devotes of the Forefathers). of the works the topic of Chapters was Maqamat al-Awliya’ (The Stations of the Saints). His works contain all three categories (of hadith).
It has been said that Shaykh Abu ‘Abdu’l- Rahman said that he heard al- Nasr Abadi say: ‘He who wishes to reach the position of content acceptance must adhere to that in which Allah has placed his acceptance.’ This is very beautifully put,for who does what pleases Allah by following His orders and abstaining from what He has forbidden especially if they do both the obligatory and the recommended parts will earn his pleasure. Likewise, he who adheres to what Allah, thetruth, loves, will be loved by Allah.
A sound hadith related in Bukhari ‘has declared war on anyone who shows enmity to a friend of mine. My servant does not draw near to me with anything I love more than what I have made obligatory on him. And my servant continues to draw near to me with supererogatory actions until I love him.’ This is because contentment is of two types:
By Shaykhu’l-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah
Comments
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.