Soundness of Hadeeth, “By hating the Arabs you would hate me”

Question How sound is this hadeeth (prophetic narration)? It was narrated that Salman (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “O Salman, do not hate me and leave your religion.” I said: O Messenger of Allah, how could I hate you when…

Question

How sound is this hadeeth (prophetic narration)? It was narrated that Salman (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “O Salman, do not hate me and leave your religion.” I said: O Messenger of Allah, how could I hate you when Allah has guided me through you? He said: ‘By hating the Arabs, you would hate me.”.

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

The text
of this hadeeth is as follows:

It was
narrated that Salman (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of
Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:

“O Salman,
do not hate me and give up your religion.”

I said: O
Messenger of Allah, how can I hate you when Allah has guided us through you?

He said:
“By hating the Arabs you would hate me.”

This
hadeeth was narrated by al-Tirmidhi (no. 3927); al-Bazzar in his Musnad
(2513); al-Tabarani in al-Mu’jam al-Kabeer (6/238); al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak
(4/86); and others, via Abu Badr al-Shuja’ ibn al-Waleed, from Qaboos ibn
Abi Zabyan, from his father, from Salman (may Allah be pleased with him).

This isnad
(chain of transmission) is da’eef (weak) and has two faults:

1.
Qaboos ibn Abi Zabyan. Ibn Ma’een said: his hadeeth is da’eef. Abu Hatim
said: Reports narrated by him cannot be quoted as evidence. Al-Daraqutni and
others classed him as weak. See: Tahdheeb al-Tahdheeb, 8/306.

2. The
isnad is interrupted between Abu Zabyan – who is Husayn ibn Jundub – and
Salman al-Farisi (may Allah be pleased with him). Al-Tirmidhi said, after
narrating the hadeeth: I heard Muhammad ibn Isma’eel [meaning al-Bukhari]
say: Abu Zabyan did not meet Salman; Salmaan died before ‘Ali. End quote.
Ibn Abi Hatim said in al-Maraseel (50): I do not think that Husayn ibn
Jundub heard it from Salman. See: Tahdheeb al-Tahdheeb, 2/380.

The
hadeeth was also narrated by Abu Na’eem in Hilyat al-Awliya, 7/270, via
Khalid ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman, from Mis’ar, from Abu Hashim al-Rummani from
Zadan, from Salman.

This chain
is da’eef jiddan (very weak) because of Khalid ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Khalid
ibn Salamah al-Makhzoomi al-Makki, whose narration is worthless, and ‘Amr
ibn al-Fallas accused him of fabricating hadeeth.

Hence
al-Hafiz al-Mundhiri said in Ajwibah ‘ala Asilah fi’l-Jarh wa Ta’deel (p.
84): A munkar hadeeth (denounced narration). Al-Shaykh al-Albani (may Allah
have mercy on him) said: Its isnad is da’eef. End quote. Al-Silsilah
al-Da’eefah (no. 2029).

Thirdly:

The
weakness of this hadeeth does not mean that there is no virtue in the Arabs.
There are many hadeeths concerning this matter, a few of which are saheeh
(authentic) and many of which are weak or fabricated.

Shaykh
al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

Concerning
this matter there are reports other than those which I have mentioned. Some
of them are subject to further examination and some of them are fabricated.
End quote.

Iqtida’
al-Sirat al-Mustaqeem, p.159

He also
said, commenting on this hadeeth:

The
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) described hating the
Arabs as being a cause of leaving Islam, and he stated that hating them
implies hating him.

Previously
on our website we have spoken about the virtue of the Arabs and outlined the
correct understanding of this issue. Please see the answer to question
number

115934.

And Allah
knows best.

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