Ahaadeeth of al-Abdaal – 1

[All] praise is due to Allaah [alone], Lord of the Worlds, and may the prayers and salutations be upon the chief of all the messengers, Muhammad and his family, and his companions, and whomsoever follows their way until the Day of Judgment.

To proceed:

Then indeed, the word “al-Abdaal” is from amongst those words which have been used with a false meaning by the Soofees and other than them [such as the Shee’ah Raafidhah]; And because of this, we wished to explain the correct [and authentic] meaning [of this word] according to Ahlus-Sunnah, and that is as follows:

So, regarding the matter of al-Abdaal, then [a number of] ahaadeeth have been reported on the authority of [the following]:

  • ‘Alee ibn Abee Taalib;
  • ‘Ubaadah ibn as-Saamit;
  • ‘Owf ibn Maalik;
  • ‘Abdullaah ibn ‘Umar;
  • ‘Abdullaah ibn Mas’ood;
  • Umm Salamah;
  • Anas ibn Maalik (radhi-yAllaahu ‘anhum) and other than them.

And it has been said about them by more than one of the scholars of hadeeth that they are not authentic.

So [we start with] al-Haafith ibn al-Jowzee (rahima-hullaah) [who] presented a number of ahaadeeth from the ahaadeeth of al-Abdaal in [volume 2, page 337 of] the book “al-Mowdhoo’aat”, and commented on them after presenting them with their chains of transmission, saying:

There is nothing authentic in these ahaadeeth.

And Shaykh al-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah (rahima-hullaah) mentioned in [page 38 of] “al-Furqaan bayna Awliyaa ar-Rahmaan wa Awliyaa ash-Shaytaan”:

And there is nothing in that [which is] authentic[ally established] from the Prophet sal-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.

And al-Imaam Ibn al-Qayyim (rahima-hullaah) mentioned in [page 103 of] “al-Manaar al-Muneef”:

The ahaadeeth of al-Abdaal and al-Aghwaath and an-Nuqabaa and an-Nujabaa and al-Awtaad [الأبدال، و الأغواث، و النقباء، و النجباء، و الأوتاد] are all false[ly] attributed to the Messenger of Allaah (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam).

And al-Haafith as-Sakhaawee mentioned in [page 8 of] “al-Maqaasid al-Hasanah”:

The ahaadeeth of al-Abdaal have chains [of transmission] from Anas ibn Maalik (radhi-yAllaahu ‘anhu) up to the Prophet (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) – with varying words, all of which are weak.

And Shaykh al-Albaanee mentioned in [volume 5, page 520 of] “as-Silsilah adh-Dha’eefah”:

There is nothing authentic about them; Their wording varies greatly, whereby it is not possible to declare any particular text from them Hasan li-Ghayrihi[1].

And in these statements is a refutation against al-Haafith as-Suyootee’s attempt to lend support to these ahaadeeth in his treatise [entitled] “al-Khabar ad-Daal ‘ala wujood al-Qutb wal-Awtaad wan-Nujabaa wal-Abdaal” [الخبر الدال على وجود القطب والأوتاد والنجباء والأبدال]; It is printed within [volume 2, pages 241-255 of] the book “al-Haawee lil-Fataawa”. Regarding this treatise, Shaykh al-Albaanee (rahima-hullaah) said in [volume 3, page 671 of] “adh-Dha’eefah”:

And he, [namely] as-Suyootee, has excluded them from the weak ahaadeeth and the baseless narrations; Some of them are extremely weaker than others.

And I shall [now] cite some of the more important of these ahaadeeth:

And in the hadeeth of ‘Alee:

The Abdaal are in Syria, and they are forty men. Whenever one of them dies, Allaah substitutes another in his place. By means of them, Allaah brings down the rain, gives victory over enemies, and diverts punishment from the people of Syria.

Transmitted by ‘Abdullaah ibn Ahmad in [volume 1, page 112 of] “Zawaa.id al-Musnad”, and Shaykh al-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah declared it weak in [volume 11, page 434 of] Majmoo’ al-Fataawa – both in terms of the chain of transmission as well as the text of the hadeeth; [Regarding it] he said:

And regarding them, a Syrian hadeeth has been narrated with a disconnected chain [of transmission] from ‘Alee ibn Abee Taalib (radhi-yAllaahu ‘anhu) up to the Prophet (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam).

Footnote:
[1] Hasan due to support.

It is the hadeeth which is originally weak, but has other chains of narration, and the reason for its original weakness is not sinfulness of any narrator or his being a liar. So such a hadeeth may be raised to the level of hasan if two conditions are met:

  1. That it is narrated through one or more chains of narration besides the original chain, and that the other chain is similar to it or stronger than it, and
  2. That the reason for the original weakness was either someone’s having a poor memory, or a missing link in its chain, or one of its narrators being unknown.

Source: Tayseer Mustalah al-Hadeeth by Dr. Mahmood at-Tahhaan

أحاديث الأبدال

الحمد لله رب العالمين، و الصلاة و السلام على سيد المرسلين، محمد و آله و أصحابه و من سار على سنتهم إلى يوم الدي.

أما بعد:

فإن لفظ الأبدال من الألفاظ التي استعملت في معاني باطلة عند الصوفية وغيرهم، و لذلك أحببنا بيان المعنى الصحيح عند أهل السنة و ذلك على النحو التالي:

فقد جاء في أمر الأبدال أحاديث عن:

• علي بن أبي طالب؛ و

• عبادة بن الصامت؛ و

• عوف بن مالك؛ و

• عبد الله بن عمر؛ و

• عبد الله بن مسعود؛ و

• أم سلمة؛ و

• أنس بن مالك رضي الله عنهم؛ و غيرهم.

قال عنها غير واحد من الحفاظ: إنها لا تصح.

فقد أورد الحافظ ابن الجوزي -رحمه الله- عدة أحاديث من أحاديث الأبدال في كتاب “الموضوعات” (2/337) و علق عليها بعد سردها بأسانيدها قائلاً:

“ليس في هذه الأحاديث شيء يصح”.

و قال شيخ الإسلام ابن تيمية -رحمه الله- في “الفرقان بين أولياء الرحمن وأولياء الشيطان” (ص/38):

“فليس في ذلك شيء صحيح عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم “.

و قال الإمام ابن القيم -رحمه الله- في “المنار المنيف” (ص/103):

“أحاديث الأبدال، و الأغواث، و النقباء، و النجباء، و الأوتاد، كلها باطلة على رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم “.

و قال الحافظ السخاوي في “المقاصد الحسنة” (ص/8):

“حديث الأبدال له طرق عن أنس رضي الله عنه مرفوعًا بألفاظ مختلفة كلها ضعيفة”.

و قال الشيخ الألباني في “السلسلة الضعيفة”(5/520):

“لا يصح منها شيءٌ، و ألفاظها مختلفة جدًا، بحيث لا يمكن القول بأن متنًا معينًا منها حسن لغيره”.

و في هذه الأقوال رد على محاولة الحافظ السيوطي تقويته لهذه الأحاديث في رسالته “الخبر الدال على وجود القطب والأوتاد والنجباء والأبدال” و هي مطبوعة ضمن كتاب الحاوي للفتاوى (2/241- 255) و هذه الرسالة قال عنها الشيخ الألباني -رحمه الله- في “الضعيفة” (3/671):

“و قد حاشاها- أي السيوطي- بالأحاديث الضعيفة، و الآثار الواهية، و بعضها أشد ضعفًا من بعض”.

و سوف أذكر أهم هذه الأحاديث:

ففي حديث علي رضي الله عنه مرفوعًا:

“الأبدال يكونون بالشام وهم أربعون رجلاً، كلما مات رجل أبدل الله مكانه رجلاً، يُسْقَى بهم الغيث، ويُنتصر بهم على الأعداء، ويُصرف عن أهل الشام بهم العذاب”.

أخرجه عبد الله بن أحمد في “زوائد المسند” (1/112) وقد ضعفه شيخ الإسلام ابن تيمية في “مجموع الفتاوى”(11/434) سندًا ومتنًا فقال:

“فقد روي فيهم حديث شامي منقطع الإسناد عن علي بن أبي طالب رضي الله عنه مرفوعًا”.

http://www.fatwa-online.com

He is a graduate of the Islaamic University of Madeenah, having graduated from the Institute of Arabic Language, and later the Faculty of Sharee'ah in 2004. He currently resides in Birmingham, UK.

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