Response To: "I am the City of Knowledge and Ali is its Gate"

A response to "Bayat al-Ghadeer", their article can be found here.

The first rendition cited by "Bayat al-Ghadeer" was transmitted by al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak `ala al-Sahihain. However, this chain of transmission exhibits several flaws that were entirely overlooked by "Bayat al-Ghadeer". These include:

a. Abu al-Salt `Abd al-Salam bin Saleh is a criticised transmitter who was deemed unreliable by critics such as al-Nasa`i, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abu Zur`ah, al-Daraqutni, Abu Hatim, Abu Ja`far al-`Uqayli, and al-Khatib al-Baghdadi. Even al-Hakim himself disapproved of his transmission.

b. The tabi`i, al-Amash, is a well-known mudallis who relayed the tradition without explicitly confirming that he had heard it from Mujahid bin Jabr. Concerning the tadlis of al-A`mash, ibn Jarir al-Tabari remarked:

Translation: "al-A`mash is a mudallis and it is impermissible, according to me, to accept the narration of a mudallis except when he has said: I heard this hadith, or, it was narrated to us."

Similarly, ibn Abi Hatim relays from his father, who said:

Translation: "al-A`mash had the best memory out of them all. And it is possible that the hadith is marfu`. And I fear that al-A`mash did not hear this from Mujahid. Indeed al-A`mash does not hear much from Mujahid. And most of that which he has narrated from Mujahid is with tadlis."

Imam ibn Hibban has posited:

Translation: "[...] Those mudallisin who are trustworthy and upright, however we do not take their narrations as evidence unless they affirm their hearing like al-Thawri, al-A`mash, and Abu Ishaq [...]"

c. Lastly, Abu Mu`awiya subsequently abandoned this tradition from al-A`mash. In Ma`rifat al-Rijal, it is noted that Yahya bin Ma`in was inquired:

Translation: "I questioned Yahya ibn Ma`in about Abu al-Salt. He replied: He is not from those who lie. It was said to Yahya: The hadith, I am the city of knowledge and `Ali is its door, that is transmitted from Abu Mu`awiya from al-A`mash, from Mujahid, from ibn `Abbas? He replied: This hadith is from Abu Mu`awiya [...] Abu Mu`awiya initially narrated it, but recanted it later on."

The second rendition referenced by "Bayat al-Ghadeer" was reported by ibn Jarir al-Tabari in Tahdhib al-Athar. This account is transmitted via Muhammad bin `Umar al-Rumi from Sharik. However, Muhammad ibn `Umar al-Rumi was deemed unreliable by critics such as Abu Dawud, Abu Hatim, Abu Zur`ah, and ibn Hajar. Further, according to Abu Hatim, the transmission of Muhammad ibn `Umar al-Rumi from Sharik is disapproved:

Translation: "I asked my father (Abu Hatim), he said: He narrated a munkar (disapproved) hadith from Sharik [...]."

End.