Sh Al-Idlibi’s Research

Muhadith Al-Idlibi – الشيخ صلاح الدين الإدلبي

– Age of Aisha
– Moses Slapping the eye of the Angel of Death
– Moses Naked
– Solomon, 70 Wives & Disabled Child

Muhadith al-Idlibi is a Syrian Hadith scholar and an expert in the field of matn criticism.

Below is a link to his 400 page Book on this topic.

I read this book as I was researching into matn criticism.

He offer interesting analysis on the 4 topics above.

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1- AGE OF AISHA (pp. 404-411): https://sunnah.com/bukhari/67/70

These chains are authentic – so Aisha did say that.

However, Al-Idlibi says that Aisha was probably mistaken about her age – because it contradicts historical evidences.

He provides 10 historical evidences which indicate that she must have been 14 at the age of marriage and 17 at the age of consummation.

So, there seems to be a conflict between Aisha’s words and historical data.

He says that maybe she narrated this incident during old age.

No human is infallible.

He concludes:

وقد ذكر الأئمة رحمهم الله أن الحديث إذا خالف متنـُه ما هو أقوى ثبوتا منه من ثوابت التاريخ فإنه يُرد
“The scholars stated that the narration when its contents conflicts with what is stronger evidence from reliable history, its [content] is thus rejected.”

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2- MOSES SLAPPING THE EYE OF THE ANGEL OF DEATH (pp. 391-397): https://sunnah.com/bukhari/23/95

This story has also been narrated by various chains as Abu Hurairah’s own words [mawquf] – not attributing this story to the Prophet [as in the above example].

It has also been narrated that Abu Hurairah attributed it to the Prophet [marfu’].

So there is uncertainty.

Al-Idlibi says that this Hadith chain is authentic but it is mawquf – so the words of Abu Hurairah and mistakenly attributed to the Prophet:

وخلاصة القول أن هذا الحديث – في ميزان النقد الدقيق – ليس بثابت عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، وأنه من قول أبي هريرة، ولعله مما سمعه من بعض أهل الكتاب
“After deep scrutiny, it can be said in summary that : This Hadith has not been established to be the words of the Prophet. It is from the words of Abu Hurairah – he may have heard it from the people of the Book.”

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3- MOSES NAKED (pp. 387-391): https://sunnah.com/muslim/43/205

This story has been narrated from Ibn Abbas, but he did not attribute it to the Prophet.

It has also been narrated from Abu Hurairah, without him attributing it to the Prophet [as in the above example].

It also came from Abu Hurairah in another form as him attributing it to the Prophet [marfu’].

So again, there is uncertainty.

Al-Idlibi says that this Hadith chain is also authentic but this is also [mawquf] and mistakenly attributed to the Prophet.

He concludes:
والظاهر أنه مما سمعه أبو هريرة وابن عباس من أهل الكتاب
“Abu Hurairah and Ibn Abbas apparently heard this story from the people of the Book.”

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4- SOLOMON, 70 WIVES & DISABLED CHILD (pp. 381-386): https://sunnah.com/bukhari/84/13

This story has also been narrated via many routes as Abu Hurairah’s own words – not attributing the story to the Prophet [as in the above example].

It has also been narrated as him attributing it to the Prophet [marfu’].

So, there is uncertainty here as well – which means it could be Abu Hurairah’s words [mawquf] and mistakenly attributed to the Prophet.

Al-Idlibi comes to this conclusion:

أن هذا الحديث ثابت من قول أبي هريرة، وليس من قول النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم، والظاهر أنه سمعه من بعض مسلمة أهل الكتاب
“This narration has been established as a statement of Abu Hurairah and they are not the words of the Prophet. He apparently heard it from some of the people of the Book who had become Muslims.”

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Link to his book: http://idlbi.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/%D9%85%D9%86%D9%87%D8%AC-%D9%86%D9%82%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%86-%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%AF-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%AB-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A8%D9%88%D9%8A-%D8%B5%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%AF%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%8A.pdf
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CONCLUSION:

This is a very interesting analysis.

I’m not a scholar, so I cannot comment on the validity of his analysis, but such analysis by scholars is welcome.

He comes to these conclusions after deep research, thorough scrutiny of the chains and analysis of each report. He’s not making this up. If you are interested in his reasoning, read the book.

Sh al-Idlibi says that most people rightly fear denying a statement of the Prophet – but attributing something to him which he didn’t say should be equally feared.

We can only attribute something to the Prophet with certainty.

However, we cannot open the door of criticism to unqualified laymen and modernist liberals. The criticism should also not be led by those people, nor should it be to please them.

They will never be pleased with Islam.

This type of analysis should be left to reliable scholars, who specialise in Qur’an, Tafsir, Hadith, Sirah, Usool, etc.

Muhadith Al-Idlibi has taught as a professor at:

– Al-Qarawiyyin University in Morocco,
– Imam Muhammad bin Saud University in Riyadh,
– College of Islamic and Arabic Studies in Dubai,
– Al-Makkah al-Maftuha University in Jeddah