Response to: Khair ul Bariyya

The following is a response to SlaveOfAhlubait’s article entitled: “Khair ul Bariyya.” The article can be found here.

In this article, SoA attempts to prove narrations from both Sunni and Shia sources that the verse:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ أُوْلَئِكَ هُمْ خَيْرُ الْبَرِيَّةِ

{Those who believed and did righteous deeds, those are the best of creation.}

He claims it is referring to the Shia of Ali/Ahlul Bayt.

Yet, upon closer inspection, we found that every single one of the narrations provided is weak.

Section 1: Sunni Sources:

1- Narration of Abu Nu’aym in Hilyat Al-Awliya’a from the path of Ibn Abbas, according to the Pooya commentary of the Qur’an. However, we could not locate this tradition in that book.

2- Narration of Ibn Asakir in Tareekh Dimashq through the path of Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudari. The narration is very weak since it comes through Ahmad bin Salim, who was accused of lying and stealing narrations. See his biography in Lisan Al-Mizan.

3- Narration of Ibn Asakir in Tareekh Dimashq through the path of Jabir is weak since it comes through the path of Ibrahim bin Anas, and the scholars of hadith did not write a biography for him, which makes him an anonymous narrator.

4- The narration of Abu Barza through the path of Al-Hasakani comes through the narration of Husain bin Mukhariq who has been accused of fabricating hadiths. See Lisan Al-Mizan. The narration also includes other narrators that seem to be anonymous.

5- The narration of Al-Baqir in Tafseer Al-Tabari comes from the path of Abu Al-Jarood the Zaidi, who has been weakened and accused of lying by many scholars include Abu Hatim, Abu Zur’ah, and Yahya bin Ma’een.

6- The narration of Ibn Mardawayh through Ali in his tafseer. No chain has been provided for this narration, and therefore, it is rejected.

7- The narration in Shawahid Al-Tanzeel from Muqatil does not include a chain, and is therefore rejected.

8- Another narration from Shawahid Al-Tanzeel through the path of Ali contains more than one anonymous narrator. It also includes Isma’eel bin Ziyad, who seems to be the narrator that is accused of lying by the early hadith scholars. See his biography in Lisan Al-Mizan.

Section 2: Shia Sources:

1- Tafseer Al-Qummi – Murtadha Al-Askari weakens the authenticity of the attribution of this book to Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Qummi. It seems that he has done this because the book is full of narrations that support the view that the Qur’an has been tampered with. He says, “So who is the person that is saying Abu Al-Fadhl bin Al-Abbas told me? Is it the author himself? And who is Abu Al-Fadhl Al-Abbas? Is he the same student? Is the author narrating from his student? And upon this we say that it is an anonymous person narration from an anonymous person and we don’t know the truth of the matter.” See Al-Qur’an Al-Kareem wa Riwayat Al-Madrisatain 3/60. Mohammad Asif Muhsini holds the same view. See the introduction of his Mashra’ah.

2- Tafseer Furat – Furat Al-Kufi himself is an anonymous narrator according to Murtadha Al-Askari. See Al-Qur’an Al-Kareem wa Riwayat Al-Madrisatain 3/61.

In conclusion, as we can see from the study above, there is not a single authentic narration in either Sunni nor Shia sources that these verses have been revealed for Ali’s Shia.