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Abu Hurayra ( ar, أبو هريرة, translit=Abū Hurayra; –681) was one of the companions of Islamic prophet Muhammad and, according to Sunni Islam, the most prolific narrator of hadith. He was known by the ''
kunyah A ''kunya'' ( ar, كُنية) is a teknonym in Arabic names, the name of an adult usually derived from their oldest child. A kunya is a component of an Arabic name, a type of epithet, in theory referring to the bearer's first-born son or daughter ...
'' Abu Hurayrah "Father of a Kitten", in reference to his attachment to cats, and he was a member of
Suffah Al-Ṣuffah ( ar, الصُّفّة), or ''Dikkat Ashab As-Suffah'' () was a sheltered raised platform that was available at the rear side of the Prophet's Mosque during the Medina period (622-632) of early Islam. It was initially available at the ...
. Later during the caliphate era, Abu Hurairah served as
Ulama In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
teacher, governor, soldier, and Hadith auditor. Abu Hurairah was acknowledged by Muslim scholars for his extraordinary
photographic memory Eidetic memory ( ; more commonly called photographic memory or total recall) is the ability to recall an image from memory with high precision—at least for a brief period of time—after seeing it only onceThe terms ''eidetic memory'' and ''pho ...
which allowed him to memorize massive numbers of over 5,000 hadiths which later produced more than 500,000 chain narrations, or ''
Isnad Hadith studies ( ar, علم الحديث ''ʻilm al-ḥadīth'' "science of hadith", also science of hadith, or science of hadith criticism or hadith criticism) consists of several religious scholarly disciplines used by Muslim scholars in th ...
'' which make Abu Hurairah an exemplar role model for Hadith studies scholars.


Life


Ancestry

Abu Hurairah's
personal name A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is know ...
(''ism'') is unknown, and so is his father's. The most popular opinion, voiced by
Al-Dhahabi Shams ad-Dīn adh-Dhahabī (), also known as Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qāymāẓ ibn ʿAbdillāh at-Turkumānī al-Fāriqī ad-Dimashqī (5 October 1274 – 3 February 1348) was an Islamic historia ...
and
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī or ''Ibn Ḥajar'' ( ar, ابن حجر العسقلاني, full name: ''Shihābud-Dīn Abul-Faḍl Aḥmad ibn Nūrud-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī al-Kināni'') (18 February 1372 – 2 Febru ...
, is that it was 'Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Ṣakhr (). According to Al-Dhahabi, Abu Hurairah hailed from the prominent
Banu Daws The Banu Daws ( ar, بنو دوس) was one of the clan of Arabia during Muhammad's era. Located south of Mecca, it is a branch of the Zahran tribe, among its leaders Tufayl ibn Amr, one of Muhammad's companions. There are Islamic prophecies with ...
clan of the Arab tribe of Zahran, and was born in the region of
Al-Bahah Al Bahah ( ar, ٱلْبَاحَة, ') is a city in the Hejazi area of western Saudi Arabia. It is the capital of Al Bahah Region, and is one of the Kingdom's prime tourist attractions. It enjoys a pleasant climate and is surrounded by more than fo ...
. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani traced the lineage of the Banu Daws to
Azd The Azd ( ar, أَزْد), or ''Al-Azd'' ( ar, ٱلْأَزْد), are a tribe of Sabaean Arabs. In ancient times, the Sabaeans inhabited Ma'rib, capital city of the Kingdom of Saba' in modern-day Yemen. Their lands were irrigated by the Ma ...
, a Nabatean ancestor of the southern Arabs, through Zahran.
Al-Qalqashandi Shihāb al-Dīn Abū 'l-Abbās Aḥmad ibn ‘Alī ibn Aḥmad ‘Abd Allāh al-Fazārī al-Shāfiʿī better known by the epithet al-Qalqashandī ( ar, شهاب الدين أحمد بن علي بن أحمد القلقشندي; 1355 or 1356 &ndash ...
reported the Zahran as a descendant of Khalid ibn Nasr, while Ibn Hazm reported Zahran was a descendant of Malik ibn Nasr, a
Qahtanite The terms Qahtanite and Qahtani ( ar, قَحْطَانِي; transliterated: Qaḥṭānī) refer to Arabs who originate from South Arabia. The term "Qahtan" is mentioned in multiple ancient Arabian inscriptions found in Yemen. Arab traditions b ...
. ''Hadith'' narrations record Muhammad as having a favorable view of the Banu Daws, who viewed them on par with his tribe, the Quraysh, the Ansar of Medina, and
Banu Thaqif The Banu Thaqif ( ar, بنو ثقيف, Banū Thaqīf) is an Arab tribe which inhabited, and still inhabits, the city of Ta'if and its environs, in modern Saudi Arabia, and played a prominent role in early Islamic history. During the pre-Islamic ...
.


Conversion to Islam and life in Medina

Abu Hurairah embraced Islam through Tufayl ibn 'Amr, the chieftain of his tribe. Tufayl had returned to his village after meeting Muhammad in Mecca and converting to Islam in its early years. Abu Hurairah was one of the first to accept Islam, unlike the majority of Tufayl's tribesmen who embraced Islam later. Abu Hurairah accompanied Tufayl to Mecca to meet Muhammad who renamed him Abdurrahman. It was said that he found a stray kitten, so he took it in his sleeve, which is the reason he was named Abu Hurairah (father of the kitten). After the '' hijrah'' (migration to Medina), Abu Hurairah became one of the inhabitants of the ''
Suffah Al-Ṣuffah ( ar, الصُّفّة), or ''Dikkat Ashab As-Suffah'' () was a sheltered raised platform that was available at the rear side of the Prophet's Mosque during the Medina period (622-632) of early Islam. It was initially available at the ...
''. Abu Hurairah stuck closely to Muhammad, and went on expeditions and journeys with him. Abu Hurairah was recorded as having participated in the
Expedition of Dhat al-Riqa The expedition of Dhat al-Riqa took place in July AD 625 (or April 626, Muharram AH 5 of the Islamic calendar according to al-Waqidi),. or after the Battle of Khaybar in AD 628, i.e. AH 7 of the Islamic calendar. Two Quran verses, 5:11 and 4:101, ...
, which took place in
Najd Najd ( ar, نَجْدٌ, ), or the Nejd, forms the geographic center of Saudi Arabia, accounting for about a third of the country's modern population and, since the Emirate of Diriyah, acting as the base for all unification campaigns by the H ...
in the year 4 AH or 5 AH. The consensus of Muslim scholars considers Abu Hurairah's military career as having begun after the
Battle of Khaybar The Battle of Khaybar ( ar, غَزْوَة خَيْبَر, label=Arabic) was fought in 628 CE between the early Muslims led by Muhammad and Jews living in Khaybar, an oasis located 150 km from Medina in the northwestern Arabian Peninsul ...
, after which he was present in the
Battle of Mu'tah The Battle of Mu'tah ( ar, مَعْرَكَة مُؤْتَة, translit=Maʿrakah Muʿtah, or ar, غَزْوَة مُؤْتَة, link=no ') took place in September 629 (1 Jumada al-Awwal 8 AH), between the forces of Muhammad and the army of t ...
, during the
Conquest of Mecca The Conquest of Mecca ( ar, فتح مكة , translit=Fatḥ Makkah) was the capture of the town of Mecca by Muslims led by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in December 629 or January 630 AD ( Julian), 10–20 Ramadan, 8 AH. The conquest marked t ...
, at Hunayn, and in the Expedition of Tabuk. Later, Abu Hurairah were sent as a muezzin to
al-Ala al-Hadhrami Al-Ala al-Hadrami ( ar, العلاء الحضرمي, al-ʿAlāʾ al-Haḍramī; died 635–636 or 641–642) was an early Muslim commander and the tax collector of Bahrayn (eastern Arabia) under the Islamic prophet Muhammad in and Bahrayn's govern ...
in
Bahrayn Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ad ...
. Abu Hurairah was father-in-law of the prominent ''tabi''' ()
Said ibn al-Musayyib Abu Muhammad Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib ibn Hazn al-Makhzumi ( ar, سعید بن المسیب, Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib; 642–715) was one of the foremost authorities of jurisprudence (''fiqh'') among the ''taba'een'' (generation succeeding the compan ...
(d. 715), who confessed that he had married Abu Hurairah's daughter in order to get closer with her father and learn the ''hadith'' he possessed. Hammam ibn Munabbih (d. 748), another prominent ''tabi and disciple of Abu Hurairah compiled the ''hadith'' narrated to him by Abu Hurairah in his ''hadith'' collection ''
Sahifah Hammam ibn Munabbih ( ar, صحيفة همام بن منبه), , is a hadith collection compiled by the Islamic scholar Hammam ibn Munabbih ( or ). It is sometimes quoted as one of the earliest surviving works of its kind. Description Generally considered in the I ...
'', one of the earliest ''hadith'' collections in history. There is little mention of the family of Abu Huraira, but it is known that he had a wife named Basra bint Ghazwan.


After Muhammad, later years and death

According to
Ahmad ibn Hanbal Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Dhuhli ( ar, أَحْمَد بْن حَنْبَل الذهلي, translit=Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal al-Dhuhlī; November 780 – 2 August 855 CE/164–241 AH), was a Muslim jurist, theologian, ascetic, hadith traditionist, and f ...
, after the death of Muhammad, Abu Hurairah participated in the Ridda Wars under the first
Rashidun caliph , image = تخطيط كلمة الخلفاء الراشدون.png , caption = Calligraphic representation of Rashidun Caliphs , birth_place = Mecca, Hejaz, Arabia present-day Saudi Arabia , known_for = Companions of t ...
,
Abu Bakr Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 ...
. After Abu Bakr's death, during Umar's reign, Abu Hurairah actively participated in the Muslim conquest of Persia. Later, he became governor of Bahrayn. During this time, Abu Hurairah is noted to have become wealthy, amassing close to 10,000 gold dinars through breeding horses and spoils of war, which he brought to Medina. This raised Umar's suspicion, who accused him of corruption. Abu Hurairah was later found innocent and Umar asked him again to govern Bahrayn once again, an offer he turned down. After leaving the governorship, Abu Hurairah returned to Medina and worked as a ''qadi'' (judge), issuing ''fatāwā'' ( fatwa). Abu Hurairah was one of the defenders of the third Rashidun caliph,
Uthman Uthman ibn Affan ( ar, عثمان بن عفان, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; – 17 June 656), also spelled by Colloquial Arabic, Turkish and Persian rendering Osman, was a second cousin, son-in-law and notable companion of the Islamic proph ...
, during his assassination. Abu Hurairah continued to work as '' mufti'' after Uthman's death. In the early Umayyad era, Abu Hurairah was tasked with assessing the authenticity of the ''hadith'' circulated within the caliphate. Abu Hurairah died in the year 681 (59 AH) at the age of 78 and was buried at
al-Baqi' ''Jannat al-Baqīʿ'' ( ar, ٱلْبَقِيْع, "The Baqi'") is the oldest and the first Islamic cemetery of Medina in the Hejazi region of present-day Saudi Arabia. It is located to the southeast of the Prophet's Mosque, which contains the gr ...
. His funeral prayer was led by Al-Walid ibn Utba, who was the governor of Medina, and was attended by Abd Allah ibn Umar and Abu Sa'id al Khudri. Al-Walid wrote to Mu'awiya I about his death, who made a concession of 10,000 dirhams to Abu Hurairah's heirs and commanded Al-Walid to take care of them. In 1274 (673 AH) the Mausoleum of Abu Hurairah was constructed in Yibna, at the order of the Mamluk Sultan
Baibars Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari ( ar, الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري, ''al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī'') (1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), of Turkic Kipchak ...
. The mausoleum has been described as "one of the finest domed mausoleums in
Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East J ...
."Petersen, 2001, p
313
/ref> Following the
1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...
, the mausoleum was designated a shrine for Jews dedicated to Gamaliel II by the Israeli government, although neither Abu Hurairah nor Gamaliel II are likely to have been buried in the tomb.


Legacy and influence

The ''hadith'' reported by Abu Hurairah are diverse, being used by Islamic scholars specializing in '' hadith'', aqīdah'', '' fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence), ''ijtihād'', ''tafsīr'' (Quranic exegesis), and
Islamic eschatology Islamic eschatology ( ar, علم آخر الزمان في الإسلام, ) is a field of study in Islam concerning future events that would happen in the end times. It is primarily based on hypothesis and speculations based on sources from ...
. In his ''Kitab al-Iman'', a book on aqīdah'',
Ibn Taymiyyah Ibn Taymiyyah (January 22, 1263 – September 26, 1328; ar, ابن تيمية), birth name Taqī ad-Dīn ʾAḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Numayrī al-Ḥarrānī ( ar, تقي الدين أحمد بن عبد الحليم � ...
(d. 1328) uses ''hadith'' narrations from Abu Hurairah to study
tawḥīd Tawhid ( ar, , ', meaning "unification of God in Islam (Allāh)"; also romanized as ''Tawheed'', ''Tawhid'', ''Tauheed'' or ''Tevhid'') is the indivisible oneness concept of monotheism in Islam. Tawhid is the religion's central and single mo ...
. Ibn Kathir uses Abu Hurairah's narrations in ''Al-Nihāyah fī al-Fitan wa al-Malaḥim,'' a work on
Islamic eschatology Islamic eschatology ( ar, علم آخر الزمان في الإسلام, ) is a field of study in Islam concerning future events that would happen in the end times. It is primarily based on hypothesis and speculations based on sources from ...
. References to Abu Hurairah's narrations can be found in
Al-Tabari ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari i ...
's ''
Tafsir al-Tabari ''Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān'' (, also written with ''fī'' in place of ''ʿan''), popularly ''Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī'' ( ar, تفسير الطبري), is a Sunni '' tafsir'' by the Persian scholar Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari ( ...
'', Ibn Kathir's ''
Tafsir Ibn Kathir ''Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm'' better known as ''Tafsir Ibn Kathir'' is the tafsir by Ibn Kathir (died 774 AH). It is one of the most famous Islamic books concerned with the science of interpretation of the Quran. It also includes jurisprud ...
'',
Al-Mahalli Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Shihāb al-Dīn Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī ( ar, جلال الدين أبو عبد الله محمد بن شهاب الدين أحمد بن كمال الدين محمد بن إبراهيم بن أحمد بن ها ...
and
al-Suyuti Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti ( ar, جلال الدين السيوطي, Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī) ( 1445–1505 CE),; ( Brill 2nd) or Al-Suyuti, was an Arab Egyptian polymath, Islamic scholar, historian, Sufi, and jurist. From a family of Persian ...
's collaborative '' Tafsir al-Jalalayn'', and
Al-Qurtubi Imam Abū ʿAbdullāh Al-Qurṭubī or Abū ʿAbdullāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Abī Bakr al-Anṣārī al-Qurṭubī ( ar, أبو عبدالله القرطبي) (121429 April 1273) was an Andalusian jurist, Islamic scholar and muhaddith. H ...
's ''
Tafsir al-Qurtubi Tafsir al-Qurtubi () is a 13th-century work of Qur'an exegesis (Arabic: ''tafsir'') by the classical scholar Al-Qurtubi. Considered one of the best and most iconic tafsirs to date. The tafsir of Al-Qurtubi is regarded as one of the most compend ...
'', all of which are works of ''tafsīr,'' or Quranic exegesis. They also refer to Abu Hurairah's ''ijtihād'' and the resulting ''fatāwā'' as their resources. Abu Hurairah was among the few companions of Muhammad who issued jurisprudential rulings or ''fatāwā'' ( fatwa), and he was personally requested by his contemporary companion Ibn Abbas to do so. As the Sunni ''madhahib'' ( madhhab, schools of jurisprudence) were structurally based on the rulings or narrations from companions of Muhammad, the ruling jurisprudence for the four main Sunni ''madhahib'' heavily relied on Abu Hurairah's ''fatāwā'' and his numerous narrations.
Taqi al-Din al-Subki Abu Al-Hasan Taqī al-Dīn Ali ibn Abd al-Kafi ibn Ali al-Khazraji al-Ansari al-Subkī ( ar, أبو الحسن تقي الدين علي بن عبد الكافي بن علي الخزرجي الأنصاري السبكي), was a leading polymath a ...
compiled the ''fatāwā'' of Abu Hurairah in his book, ''Fatawa Abu Hurairah''. Abu Hurairah was one of the six prominent companions of Muhammad involved in jurisprudential rulings during the Rashidun era, the others being
Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas,
Abu Darda Abū Dardāʾ al-Anṣārī ( ar, أبو الدرداء الأنصاري, d. 32 AH/652 CE) was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was the husband of fellow companion Umm al-Darda al-Kubra. Biography Abu Darda was a trader in Me ...
, Saʽid al-Khudri, and Abu Shafiah. Abd al-Rahman Jaziri, a professor at
Al-Azhar University , image = جامعة_الأزهر_بالقاهرة.jpg , image_size = 250 , caption = Al-Azhar University portal , motto = , established = *970/972 first foundat ...
, has concluded that on certain issues, the four ''madhahib'' reached ''ijmā''' (consensus) on Abu Hurairah's ruling. The four major Sunni ''madhahib'', have all used ''hadith'' narrated by Abu Hurairah in major jurisprudential decisions. '' Muwatta Imam Malik'', the ''hadith'' collection of the founder of the Maliki ''madhhab'', Malik ibn Anas, contains various hadiths narrated by Abu Hurairah wherein they form the basis for jurisprudential rulings. ''
Bulugh al-Maram ''Bulugh al-Maram min Adillat al-Ahkam'', ( ar, بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام ) translation: ''Attainment of the Objective According to Evidences of the Ordinances'' by al-Hafidh ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (1372 – 1448) is a c ...
'', a hadith collection by
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī or ''Ibn Ḥajar'' ( ar, ابن حجر العسقلاني, full name: ''Shihābud-Dīn Abul-Faḍl Aḥmad ibn Nūrud-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī al-Kināni'') (18 February 1372 – 2 Febru ...
pertaining to the Shafi'i madhhab also contains many ''hadith'' narrated by Abu Hurairah.
Al-Nawawi Abū Zakariyyā Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf al-Nawawī ( ar, أبو زكريا يحيى بن شرف النووي;‎ (631A.H-676A.H) (October 1230–21 December 1277), popularly known as al-Nawawī or Imam Nawawī, was a Sunni Shafi'ite jurist and ha ...
's ''Al-Arba'ūn an-Nawawiyyah'' also contain narrations from Abu Hurairah. According to
Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen Muhammad bin Salih al-Uthaymeen (March 9, 1929 – January 10, 2001; Arabic: محمد بن صالح العثيمين), also known as Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen, was a prominent Islamic scholar from Saudi Arabia. Biography Uthaymeen was born on ...
in his commentary of Al-Nawawi's ''Riyāḍ as-Ṣaliḥīn'', Abu Hurairah's ''
ijtihad ''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a le ...
'' formed the basis for Al-Nawawi's rulings of '' wudu''.


Hadith

Abu Hurairah is credited with narrating at least 5,374 ''hadith''. Abu Hurairah continued collecting ''hadith'' after the death of Muhammad from
Abu Bakr Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 ...
, Umar,
Aisha Aisha ( ar, , translit=ʿĀʾisha bint Abī Bakr; , also , ; ) was Muhammad's third and youngest wife. In Islamic writings, her name is thus often prefixed by the title "Mother of the Believers" ( ar, links=no, , ʾumm al- muʾminīn), referr ...
,
Fadl ibn Abbas Faḍl ibn ʿAbbās (Arabic: فضل بن عباس; c. 614 – 639 CE) was a brother of Abd Allah ibn Abbas and was a cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Biography Fadl was the eldest son of Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, an uncle of Muhammad and ...
, Usama ibn Zayd, Ubayy ibn Ka'b, and Ka'b al-Ahbar. It is said by Abu Hurairah himself the only one who surpassed him regarding hadith were Abd Allah ibn Amr ibn al-As, another companion who serve as writer assistant of Muhammad and author of "''Al-Sahifah al-Sadiqah''", the first Hadith book in history. However, according to his own admission, Abu Hurairah said that Abd Allah ibn Amr ibn al-As possessed a greater number of narrations than himself, since Abd Allah diligently wrote every ''hadith'' he heard, while Abu Hurairah relied on his extraordinary memory. Muhammad Sa'id Mursi recorded around 800 companions of Muhammad and '' tabi'un'' who learnt ''hadith'' from Abu Hurairah. According to the records from Ibn Hajar and ad-Dhahabi, Abu Hurairah fellow Sahabah and Tabi'un who narrated hadiths from him were
Abd Allah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عبد الله بن عمر ابن الخطاب; 610693) was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a son of the second Caliph Umar. He was a prominent authority in ''hadith'' and law. ...
, Ibn Abbas,
Jabir ibn Abd Allah Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥarām al-Anṣārī ( ar, جابر بن عبدالله بن عمرو بن حرام الأنصاري, died 697 CE/78 AH), was a prominent companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Life Early life Jabi ...
,
Anas ibn Malik Anas ibn Mālik ibn Naḍr al-Khazrajī al-Anṣārī ( ar, أنس بن مالك الخزرجي الأنصاري (c.612 – c.712 Finding the Truth in Judging the Companions, 1. 84-5; EI2, 1. 482 A. J. Wensinck J. Robson) was a well-known ''saha ...
,
Said ibn al-Musayyib Abu Muhammad Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib ibn Hazn al-Makhzumi ( ar, سعید بن المسیب, Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib; 642–715) was one of the foremost authorities of jurisprudence (''fiqh'') among the ''taba'een'' (generation succeeding the compan ...
,
Urwah ibn Zubayr ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām al-Asadī ( ar , عروة بن الزبير بن العوام الأسدي, ) was among the seven '' fuqaha'' (jurists) who formulated the fiqh of Medina in the time of the Tabi‘in and one of the Muslim ...
,
Amr ibn Dinar Amr ibn Dinar (, ) was a seventh-century Muslim jurist and hadith transmitter from the ''tabi'un'' who served as the mufti of Mecca. Biography Amr ibn Dinar's exact date of birth is unknown, but Islamic biographical dictionaries estimate it to ...
, Ibn Sirin,
Ata ibn Abi Rabah Ata ibn Abi Rabah ( ar, عطاء بن أبي رباح, translit=ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ) was a prominent early Muslim jurist and hadith transmitter who served as the ''mufti'' of Mecca in the seventh and eighth centuries. Early life Ata w ...
,
Isa ibn Talha al-Taymi ʿĪsā ibn Ṭalḥa al-Taymī () was a notable of the Quraysh in Medina and is cited as a transmitter of historical reports by early Islamic historians. Family, life and work Isa was a son of Talha ibn Ubaydallah, a prominent companion of Muhamm ...
, Hammam ibn Munabbih, Hasan al-Basri,
Tawus ibn Kaysan Tawus Ibn Kaysan ( ar, طاووس بن كيسان; died 723) was one of the ''Tabi‘in'', one of the narrators of hadith and scholars of fiqh. He is also known as Tawoos ibn Kaysaan, "Tawoos" or "al-Taus,". Biography He was one of the scholars of ...
, Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, among others.


Abu Hurairah's narrative chains

According to Ali Ahmad as-Salus, Abu Hurairah possessed more ''asnād'' ( ''sanad'', ) than Ibn Abbas,
Aisha Aisha ( ar, , translit=ʿĀʾisha bint Abī Bakr; , also , ; ) was Muhammad's third and youngest wife. In Islamic writings, her name is thus often prefixed by the title "Mother of the Believers" ( ar, links=no, , ʾumm al- muʾminīn), referr ...
, Abd Allah ibn Umar, and
Abdullah ibn Masud Abdullah ibn Masūd, or Abdullah ibn Masood, or Abdullah Ben Messaoud ( ar, عبد الله بن مسعود, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʽūd; c.594-c.653), was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who he is regarded the greatest mufassir of Qu ...
. According to
Al-Dhahabi Shams ad-Dīn adh-Dhahabī (), also known as Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qāymāẓ ibn ʿAbdillāh at-Turkumānī al-Fāriqī ad-Dimashqī (5 October 1274 – 3 February 1348) was an Islamic historia ...
, the healthiest and most authentic ''asnād'' of narrators beginning at Abu Hurairah were: * Abu Hurairah → Ibn Sirin → Ayyub al-Sakhtiani * Abu Hurairah → Ibn Sirin →
Abd Allah ibn Awn ʿAbd Allāh bin ʿAwn bin Arṭabān al-Muzanī al-Ḥāfiẓ ( Arabic: عَبْد الَّلَه بِن عَوْن بِن أَرْطَبَان المُزَنِي الحَافِظ) was a ḥadīth transmitter from Baṣra who was a part of a ...
* Abu Hurairah → Abdul Rahman bin Hormuz → Abdullah ibn Dhakwan * Abu Hurairah →
Said ibn al-Musayyib Abu Muhammad Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib ibn Hazn al-Makhzumi ( ar, سعید بن المسیب, Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib; 642–715) was one of the foremost authorities of jurisprudence (''fiqh'') among the ''taba'een'' (generation succeeding the compan ...
Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Abdullah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri ( ar, محمد بن مسلم بن عبید الله بن عبد الله بن شهاب الزهری, translit=Muḥammad ibn Muslim ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh b. S̲h̲i ...
According to
Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Thābit ibn Aḥmad ibn Māhdī al-Shāfiʿī, commonly known as al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī ( ar, الخطيب البغدادي) or "the lecturer from Baghdad" (10 May 1002 – 5 September 1071; 392 AH-463 AH), wa ...
,
Ali ibn al-Madini Abū al-Ḥasan ʻAlī ibn ʻAbdillāh ibn Jaʻfar al-Madīnī (778 CE/161 AH – 849/234) ( ar, أبو الحسن علي بن عبد الله بن جعفر المديني) was a ninth-century Sunni Islamic scholar who was influential in the sci ...
(d. 849) considered the most authentic chain that begin with Abu Hurairah as being Abu Hurairah → Ibn Sirin → Ayyub al-Sakhtiani → Hammad ibn Zaid. According to
Ahmad Muhammad Shakir Ahmad Muhammad Shakir ( ar, أحمد محمد شاكر, Aḥmad Muḥammad Shākir) (January 29, 1892, Cairo – June 14, 1958) was an Egyptian Islamic scholar of hadith. He is the son of Muḥammad Shākir ibn Aḥmad, an Islamic scholar of A ...
(d. 1958), a ''hadith'' scholar from
Al-Azhar University , image = جامعة_الأزهر_بالقاهرة.jpg , image_size = 250 , caption = Al-Azhar University portal , motto = , established = *970/972 first foundat ...
, the most authentic ''asnād'' that came from Abu Hurayrah were: * Abu Hurairah → Said ibn al-Musayyib → Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri → Malik ibn Anas * Abu Hurairah → Said ibn al-Musayyib → Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri →
Ma'mar ibn Rashid Ma'mar ibn Rashid () was an 8th-century Persian hadith scholar. A Persian ''mawla'' ("freedman"), he is cited as an authority in all six of the canonical Sunni hadith collections. Life Ma'mar ibn Rashid was born in 96 AH/714 CE in Basra. He ...
* Abu Hurairah → Said ibn al-Musayyib → Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri →
Sufyan ibn ʽUyaynah Abū Muḥammad Sufyān ibn ʽUyaynah ibn Maymūn al-Hilālī al-Kūfī ( ar, ابو محمد سفيان بن عيينة بن ميمون الهلالي الكوفي) (725 – ) was a prominent eighth-century Islamic religious scholar from Mecca. ...
* Abu Hurairah → Ibn Sirin → Ayyub al-Sakhtiani → Hammad ibn Zaid * Abu Hurairah → Ubaidah ibn Sufyan al Hadhrami → Ismail ibn Al-Hakim * Abu Hurairah → Hammam ibn Munabbih → Ma'mar ibn Rashid According to
Al-Albani Muhammad b. al-Haj Nuh b. Nijati b. Adam al-Ishqudri al-Albani al-Arnauti ( ar, مُحَمَّد نَاصِر ٱلدِّيْن ٱلْأَلْبَانِي الأرنؤوط), better known simply as Al-Albani (August 16, 1914 – October 2, 1999), ...
in his book, ''Silsalat al-Hadith ad-Da'ifah, ''the '' madhhab'' of Abu Hurairah was taken as a guideline for ''hadith'' scholars to evaluate the validity of a ''hadith''.


Criticism

Shaykh Mahmud Abu Rayyah (d.1970), the youngest brother of Hassan al-Banna and also the author of Aḍwā alā al-sunna al-Muhammadiyya (Illuminations on the Sunnah of Muḥammad). One of the works he produced was on raising doubts about the reliability of Abu Hurarirah. According to Yasin Jibouri, several Shia scholars such as Ja'far al-Iskafi regarded Abu Hurayra as telling lies. Same goes with Abu Rayyah, independent writer from Egypt who quoted medieval Shia source in his report regarding Abu Hurairah. Certain Shia writers are known for doubting his authority as a narrator. As
Abdullah Saeed Abdullah Saeed (born May 18, 1984) is a Pakistani-American producer, composer, journalist, host, writer, and comic. He produced and hosted several TV shows and documentaries for Vice. Personal life Saeed was born in New Hampshire to a Pakistani ...
points out the writing from Abu Rayyah that Caliph
Umar bin Khattab ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate ...
is recorded to repeatedly threaten Abu Hurayrah, noted at the time as a blatant self-promoter, with serious consequences due to his frequent misquote of the Prophet's words. However, researchers have found that the Sunni scholarly community unanimously regarded Abu Hurairah as trustworthy both classical medieval and modern contemporaries, and they though the allegation of the hadith falsification by Abu Hurairah were coming solely from Shia traditions, which not found in Kutub al-Sittah and other major Hadith works, as medieval scholars such as Dhahabi said that the criticism towards Abu Hurairah are not accepted even during the early times of Islam for several reasons, including because those who criticize Abu Hurairah themselves are known as ''Mudallis'' (defected or untrustworthy narrators) according to ''Jarh wa Ta'dil'' (biographical evaluation study) and ''Asbab wurud'' (chronological study of Hadith). Which generally agreed by later era counterparts, which further adds that Jarh wa Ta'dil rulings only valid to evaluate Tabi'un or generations above them, while Sahabah generation are free and exempt from Jarh wa Ta'dil and accepted without exception, as long they are confirmed and identified by chroniclers as Sahabah. Safia Aoude and Ali al-Tamimi also highlighted, the narration of Umar threatening Abu Hurairaha, which quoted by Abdullah Saeed, were also came solely from a writer which influenced by Abu Rayyah, Particularly from anonymous writer who has pen name "O. Hashem" who write his criticism towards Abu Hurairah in his book, ''Saqifah''. Several Sunni thinkers and scholars such as has been
Mustafa al-Siba'i Mustafa al-Siba'i ( ar, مُصطَفى السِّبَاعِي, Muṣṭafā as-Sibāʿī) was a Syrian politician and activist. He was dean of the Faculty of Islamic Jurisprudence and the School of Law at the University of Damascus. From 1945 to ...
,
Shuaib Al Arna'ut The Late Al Arnaout. Shuaib ibn Muharram al-Albani al-Arnauti (in Arabicشعيب بن محرم الألباني الأرناؤوطي ) (2016-1928) was a well known Albanian scholar of Hadith in the Islamic World. He was famous for his works on Ha ...
, along with director of ''Maktabah al-Haram al-Makki ash-Shariff''(Library of the Great Mosque of Mecca)
Abdur-Rahman al-Mu'allimee al-Yamani Abdur Rahman Khan GCSI (Pashto/Dari: ) (between 1840 and 1844 – 1 October 1901) was Emir of Afghanistan from 1880 to his death in 1901. He is known for uniting the country after years of internal fighting and negotiation of the Durand Line Ag ...
, has criticized the sources which O. Hashem quoted only using falsified and inauthentic hadith according to standard of Bukhari, Sahih Muslim,
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī or ''Ibn Ḥajar'' ( ar, ابن حجر العسقلاني, full name: ''Shihābud-Dīn Abul-Faḍl Aḥmad ibn Nūrud-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī al-Kināni'') (18 February 1372 – 2 Febru ...
, and
Al-Dhahabi Shams ad-Dīn adh-Dhahabī (), also known as Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qāymāẓ ibn ʿAbdillāh at-Turkumānī al-Fāriqī ad-Dimashqī (5 October 1274 – 3 February 1348) was an Islamic historia ...
criterion of biography evaluation, while also questioning O. Hashim scholarly credibility as they though O. Hashem were driven by Shiite biased view on his critics. While Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen dismissing such criticism towards Abu Hurairah which came from Shia traditions as he said they are simply "a tradition of error collection". According to Burhanuddin from Indonesia's Ministry of Religious Affairs, the scholars observation from Siba'i, Abdul Mun'im Shalih Al-'Ali, Dhiya'urrahman Al A'Dzamy, Muhammad Abu Syahbah, Shalahuddin Maqbul Ahmad, and Abdullah ibn Abdil Aziz An-Nashir, has found out the reason Abu Rayyah, has such inorganized method in his writing were because the background of Abu Rayyah though not came from proper academic learning, instead he was just influenced by the writings of Goldziher. Badri Khairuman from Kalijaga Islamic University, on the other side, has pointed out that Abu Rayyah critic towards Abu Hurairah were flawed according to the main principles of
Biographical evaluation Biographical evaluation ( ar, عِلْمُ الرِّجال, ʿilm al-rijāl; literally meaning'' 'Knowledge of Men' , ''but more commonly understood as the ''Science of Narrators)'' refers to a discipline of Islamic religious studies within h ...
traditions and accusing Abu Rayyah relying on single source of 12th AD twelver Shia scholar,
Allamah Al-Hilli Jamāl ad-Dīn al-Ḥasan bin Yūsuf bin ʿAli bin al-Muṭahhar al-Ḥillī ( ar, جمال الدين الحسن بن يوسف الحلي; December 1250 – December 1325 CE), commonly known as Allāma Ḥelli ( fa, علامه حلی), was a T ...
. Furthermore, the case of accusation of Abu Hurairah were nullified according to Badri, as Badri reasons it is impossible if Umar does not trust Abu Hurairah, while on the fact Umar were nominating Abu Hurairah twice as governor of Bahrayn and entrusting him to produce Fatwa in eastern Arabia, while on the last years of Umar, the caliph appoint Abu Hurairah as judge in Medina, the citadel of caliphate. Badri concludes his thesis that the phenomena of Abu Rayyah writing came from the elementary and very small Abu Rayyah knowledge regarding the structural Hadith studies with proper methodology. While scholar,
Abdur-Rahman al-Mu'allimee al-Yamani Abdur Rahman Khan GCSI (Pashto/Dari: ) (between 1840 and 1844 – 1 October 1901) was Emir of Afghanistan from 1880 to his death in 1901. He is known for uniting the country after years of internal fighting and negotiation of the Durand Line Ag ...
gave short remarks that Abu Rayyah assessment towards Abu Hurairah came from biased view, not proper methodology of Hadith study.


See also

* * List of battles of Muhammad


Notes and references


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abu Hurairah 603 births 681 deaths Sunni imams Sahabah hadith narrators Rashidun governors of Bahrain Burials at Jannat al-Baqī People of the Muslim conquest of Persia Hadith scholars 7th-century jurists