"I am the City of Knowledge and Ali is its gate?"

as-Sa’di:
“Laziness against the Salaah is a sign that the heart does not long for Allâh.”
(Taysir ul Karim p. 211, afatwa.com)

ibn Rajab:
“Some of the Salaf used to ask Allaah for everything while they were praying such as salt for the dough and grass for the sheep.”
(al-Jami’, p. 276, afatwa.com)

Hadith of Madinatul Ilm

Q: According to the Ulama of Ilm ul Hadith, what is the status of the authenticity of the famous hadith that is attributed to the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam: "I am the City of Knowledge and Ali is its gate?" I want to know what the opinion of the ulama of the Deoband is on the authenticity of this hadith.

A: Jazakallah for your interesting and important query.

Regarding the hadith أنا مدينة العلم وعلي بابها

(I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its door) we have proof that this is an authentic hadith and not fabricated, as some have claimed. Here are the quotations:

1. Imam Haakim narrated this in his Mustadrak and termed it saheeh. It must be noted that Imam Haakim compiled the mustadrak for the sole purpose of recording those saheeh Ahaadith that are not found in Bukhari and Muslim. Tabarani also narrated this in Mu’jam Al Kabeer.

2. Though Bukhari, Tirmizhi, and Yayha in Mu’een disputed its authenticity, and some such as Abu Haatim and Yahya bin Sa’eed went on to totally negate the very origin of this hadith, other scholars have given opposite findings.

Abu Sa’eed Alaa-ee and Hafiz Ibni Hajar said that this hadith is of the hasan category and is tenable proof because of the numerous chains through which it has been transmitted. Ibni Hajar Makki supported this view as well, and also quoted the authentication of Imam Haakim. He further states that those who brand this hadith as fabricated have erred.
Extracted from Al-Maqaasidul Hasanah and Kashful-Khifaa.

And Allah knows best
Mufti Siraj Desai

AL-HAKIM AL-NAYSABURI
by Dr. G.F. Haddad

Al-Hâkim's Mustadrak was criticized by the hadîth scholars due to the number of mistakes and inaccuracies found in it. Al-Sakhâwî in al-I`lân wal-Tawbîkh and others mention that he declares many forged reports to be rigorously authentic - up to 100 according to some authorities - not to mention weak ones, instead of clinging to his own expressed precondition that only reports with chains of the rank of al-Bukhârî's and Muslim's would be retained.

For example, he narrates in the Mustadrak from Ibn `Abbâs that Allâh revealed to the Prophet

"I have killed seventy thousand [in punishment] for [the murder of] Yahyâ ibn Zakariyya and I will kill seventy thousand times seventy thousand [in punishment] for [the murder of] your daughter's son al-Husayn."

Al-Hâkim said this report has a sound chain while al-Dhahabî added: "By the criterion of Muslim" but Ibn Hibbân said this hadîth is untraceable (lâ asla lahu), al-Dhahabî himself rejected its matn as munkar in the Siyar while Ibn Kathir similarly declared it "highly anomalous" (gharîb jiddan) in al-Bidâya. [1]

Al-Dhahabî went to excess in regretting that al-Hâkim had compiled the Mustadrak in the first place. [2] His classing al-Hâkim "among those who are lenient, like al-Tirmidhî" [3] does not apply to al-Hâkim in absolute terms but only to his grading of narrations in the Mustadrak, which the Scholars pointed out he compiled in his old age, intending to revise it, a task left unfinished beyond the first volume. [4]

This is proven by the fact that al-Hâkim's mistakes are fewer in the first volume of the Mustadrak, as shown by al-Dhahabî's own minimal corrections there. "Outside of the Mustadrak," Shaykh Mahmûd Mamdûh said, "his positions are as strict as those of any of the meticulous Imâms of hadîth" [5] In fact, al-Hâkim often criticizes al-Bukhârî and Muslim for narrating hadîths from narrators who have been questioned. [6]

More accurately, the criterion of soundness (sihha) for both al-Hâkim and al-Dhahabî includes the narrations others classified as merely fair (hasan). [7]

Al-Kattânî in al-Risâla al-Mustatrafa described the Mustadrak as consisting half of sound narrations per the criteria of al-Bukhârî and Muslim or of either one, a quarter of sound narrations that do not meet their criteria, and a quarter of unsound narrations including forgeries.

Among the takhrîj commentaries on the Mustadrak are al-Dhahabî's Talkhîs al-Mustadrak, al-Suyûtî's Tawdîh al-Madrak fî Tashîh al-Mustadrak, a work by Burhân al-Dîn al-Halabî, and others such as the recent Tanbîh al-Wâhim by Ramadân `Alî Muhammad.

Another criticism is al-Hâkim's alleged Shî`îsm. Al-Dhahabî once names him "one of the oceans of knowledge although a little bit Shî`î" (`alâ tashayyu`in qalîlin fîh), another time "al-Hâkim the Shî`î," and another time "a famous Shî`î" (shî`iyyun mashhûr), [8] an echo of Ibn al-Jawzî's barb: "Al-Hâkim was Shî`î-leaning (mutashayyi`) and this is a flagrant trait of his." [9]

Ibn al-Subkî rejects the label of Shî`î as baseless because Ibn `Asâkir includes al-Hâkim among the Ash`arîs, who consider the Shî`îs innovators. Yet this label is still branded as a blemish today at the hands of those who oppose his positions if they weaken theirs, and those who oppose him for being a follower of al-Ash`arî, or for being a Sûfî.

[1] See Ibn Hibbân, al-Majrûhîn (2:215),
al-Khatîb, Târîkh Baghdâd (1:142),
al-Hâkim (1990 ed 2:319, 2:648, and 3:195),
Fayd al-Qadîr (1:205),
Tadhkirat al-Huffâz (1:77 gharîb),
Mîzân (sv. Qâsim ibn Ibrâhîm al-Hâshimî),
and Siyar (Risâla ed 4:342-343).

[2] "It would have been better if al-Hâkim had never compiled it"!
As mentioned by Dr. Bashshar `Awwad Ma`rûf in his doctoral thesis al-Dhahabî wa Manhajuhu fî Kitâbihi Târîkh al-Islâm.

[3] In Dhikr Man Yu`tamadu Qawluhu fîl-Jarh wal-Ta`dîl (p. 172).

[4] Cf. al-Sakhâwî, Fath al-Mughîth (1:36) and Mamdûh, Raf` al-Minâra (p. 153 n. 1).

[5] Ibid.

[6] Shaykh `Abd Allâh Sirâj al-Dîn said in Sharh al-Manzûma al-Bayqûniyya (p. 47): "Al-Suyûtî said in al-Tadrîb [Egyptian ed p. 72] that Ibn al-Salâh excepted the hadîths that attracted criticism [from his statement that all that is in the two Sahîhs is definitely sahîh]. These are the hadîths which al-Dâraqutnî and others have criticized, 210 narrations as the hâfiz Ibn Hajar said, 32 shared by al-Bukhârî and Muslim, while al-Bukhârî alone has 78 and Muslim alone 100."

[7] For a critique of al-Dhahabî's statement about al-Tirmidhî's leniency see `Itr's masterpiece al-Imâm al-Tirmidhî.

[8] "Al-Dhahabî likes to fuss over whomever he suspects of tashayyu`." Al-Ghumârî, al-Mudâwî (5:424). Al-Dhahabî goes so far - in the Siyar (10:627) - as to claim that al-Hâkim leans to the Karrâmiyya!

[9] Ibn al-Jawzî, al-Muntazam (8:269).

by Dr. G.F. Haddad