Hadith al-Juwaybari fi Masail Abd Allah ibn Salam lil-Bayhaqi
- Author died
- 458 AH
- Editions
- دار ابن حزم
Hadith al-Juwaybari fi Masail Abd Allah ibn Salam (The Hadith of al-Juwaybari Concerning the Questions of Abd Allah ibn Salam) is a specialized hadith critique treatise authored by Abu Bakr al-Bayhaqi (384–458 AH / 994–1066 CE) . The short work, also referred to as al-Alf Mas'ala (The Thousand Questions), is dedicated to exposing the fabrication of an extensive narrative attributed to the Companion Abd Allah ibn Salam .
Subject and Arguments
The treatise refutes a forged transmission claiming that Abd Allah ibn Salam posed approximately one thousand questions—or more—to the Prophet ﷺ upon converting to Islam . Al-Bayhaqi clarifies that the authentic narration, transmitted through Anas ibn Malik, establishes that Abd Allah ibn Salam asked the Prophet ﷺ only three questions .
Al-Bayhaqi dismantles the chain of transmission (isnad) circulated for the thousand questions—transmitted through Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Juwaybari, from Muhammad ibn Abd Allah al-Filastini, from Juwaybir, from al-Dahhak, from Abd Allah ibn Abbas—by pointing out severe structural defects at every link :
- Al-Dahhak ibn Muzahim never met Ibn Abbas nor heard anything directly from him, having received his Quranic commentary solely from Sa'id ibn Jubayr at Rayy .
- Juwaybir ibn Sa'id is an abandoned narrator (matruk), declared unreliable by major hadith critics including Yahya ibn Ma'in, Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qattan, Ali ibn al-Madini, and Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari .
- Muhammad ibn Abd Allah al-Filastini is an unidentified, unknown narrator (majhul) unmentioned in biographical dictionaries, and obscurity constitutes a disqualifying defect in hadith criticism .
- Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Juwaybari is an infamous fabricator who forged more than a thousand hadiths falsely ascribed to the Prophet ﷺ .
To corroborate this assessment, al-Bayhaqi cites his teacher al-Hakim al-Naysaburi, who denounced al-Juwaybari in al-Madkhal ila Ma'rifat al-Sahih min al-Saqim and al-Madkhal ila Ma'rifat Kitab al-Iklil as a malicious liar who forged reports under the guise of pious encouragement . Al-Bayhaqi also appends a formal legal response (fatwa) written in al-Hakim's own hand confirming that al-Juwaybari's hadith is completely unusable and has numerous fabricated counterparts .
Throughout the treatise, al-Bayhaqi underscores the religious prohibition against disseminating unverified or fabricated reports, citing prophetic warnings such as مَن حَدَّثَ بِحَدِيثٍ وَهُوَ يَرَى أَنَّهُ كَذِبٌ فَهُوَ أَحَدُ الكَاذِبِينَ ("Whoever narrates a hadith knowing it to be a lie is one of the liars") and مَنْ كَذَبَ عَلَيَّ مُتَعَمِّدًا فَلْيَتَبَوَّأْ مَقْعَدَهُ مِنَ النَّارِ ("Whoever lies against me intentionally, let him take his seat in the Fire") .
Manuscripts and Publication
The tract is preserved as a short booklet not exceeding four folios, with a manuscript copy held in Istanbul at the Topkapi Palace's Sultan Ahmed III Library (MS 1127) . It has been edited by Mashhur ibn Hasan Al Salman and published by Dar Ibn Hazm in Beirut (1422 AH / 2001 CE) as part of Majmu'at Ajza' Hadithiyya .
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