I Introduction
Consider the following narrative:
حَدَّثَنَا جُبَارَةُ حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَي بْنُ الْعَلاءِ عَنْ مَرْوَانَ بْن سَالِمٍ عَنْ طَلْحَةَ بْنِ عُبَيْدِ اللّٰهِ عَنْ حُسَيْنِ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّي اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ مَنْ وُلِدَ لَهُ فَاَذَّنَ فِي اُذُنِهِ الْيُمْنَي وَاَقَامَ فِي اُذُنِهِ الْيُسْرَى لَمْ تَضُرَّهُ اُمُّ الصِّبْيَانِ
Husayn ibn ‘Ali stated that God’s Messenger said: “He to whom a child was born and he sounded the adhan in his right ear and the iqamah in the left, then the child would never be inflicted with [the ailment of] umm al-sibyan.”1
II Critical Analysis
Following is the schematic illustration of the variants of this narrative’s isnad:
According to al-Haythami and Ibn Hajar, Marwan ibn Salim al-Ghifari is matruk. The latter also adds that al-Saji and others say that he fabricates narratives.2
Ibn Abi Hatim records: Ahmad ibn Hanbal regards him to be laysa bi thiqah; Abu Hatim says that his munkar al-hadith jiddan da‘if al-hadith laysa lahu hadithun qa’imun; when Ibn Abi Hatim asked his father if his narratives should be abandoned, he said: la bal la yuktabu hadithuhu.3
Ibn al-Jawzi records: Al-Bukhari calls him munkar al-hadith while al-Nasa’i and al-Daraqutni regard him to be matruk; according to Ibn Hibban he would narrate manakir from mashahir and would narrate from trustworthy narrators what is not sound and when this phenomenon increased, adducing from him was disallowed.4
Al-Dhahabi records: Abu ‘Arubah al-Harani says that he fabricates his narratives and Ibn ‘Adi is of the opinion that most of his narratives are not corroborated by reliable narrators.5
Al-Fasawi says that he is munkar al-hadith; it is not permissible to narrate from him and scholars do write his narratives only to know them.6
Yahya ibn Ma‘in says that he is laysa bi thiqah.7
According to Ibn Hajar, Talhah ibn ‘Ubaydullah al-‘Uqayli is majhul.8
Regarding Yahya ibn ‘Ula al-Razi, Ibn Abi Hatim records: according to Yahya ibn Ma‘in, he is laysa bi shayy; ‘Amr ibn ‘Ali says that he is matruk al-hadith jiddan; Abu Salamah regards him to be da‘if; Abu Hatim says that he is laysa bi al-qawi and that Waki‘ has impugned him; Abu Zur‘ah says that there is du‘f in his narratives.9
Al-Nasa’i says that he is matruk al-hadith.10
Ibn al-Jawzi records: Waki‘ has severely criticized him; Ahmad says that he is a liar and fabricates narratives; Yahya says that he is laysa bi thiqah; ‘Amr ibn ‘Ali, al-Azdi and al-Nasa’i regard him to be matruk al-hadith; Al-Daraqutni says that he is da‘if; Ibn ‘Adi says that the weakness in his narratives is evident and that they are fabricated; Ibn Hibban expresses the fact that he is alone in narrating maqlubat from trustworthy narrators and it is not permissible to adduce from him.11
Ibn Hajar says that he has been accused of fabrication.12
III Conclusion
In the light of the above mentioned data, this narrative cannot be accepted
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1. Abu Ya‘la, Musnad, vol. 12, 150, (no. 6780). See also: Ibn ‘Asakir, Tarikh Madinah Dimashq, vol. 57, 280-281.
2. Al-Haythami, Majma‘ al-zawa’id, vol. 4, 59; Ibn Hajar, Taqrib, 526.
3. Ibn Abi Hatim, Al-Jarh wa al-ta‘dil, vol. 8, 274.
4. Ibn al-Jawzi, Al-Du‘afa, vol. 3, 113.
5. Al-Dhahabi, Mizan al-i‘tidal, vol. 6, 398.
6. Al-Fasawi, Al-Ma‘rifah wa al-tarikh, vol. 3, 150.
7. Abu Zakariyya Yahya ibn Ma‘in ibn ‘Awn ibn Ziyad ibn Bastam ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman, Ma‘rifah al-rijal ‘an Yahya ibn Ma‘in, 1st ed., vol. 1 (Damascus: Mujamma‘ al-lughah al-‘arabiyyah, 1405 AH), 55.
8. Ibn Hajar, Taqrib, 283.
9. Ibn Abi Hatim, Al-Jarh wa al-ta‘dil, vol. 9, 179.
10. Al-Nasa’i, Al-Du‘afa’, 107.
11. Ibn al-Jawzi, Al-Du‘afa, vol. 3, 200.
12. Ibn Hajar, Taqrib, 505.