Sunan Abi Dawud 2611
Regarding What Is Recommended In Armies, Companies, And Expeditions
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حَدَّثَنَا زُهَيْرُ بْنُ حَرْبٍ أَبُو خَيْثَمَةَ حَدَّثَنَا وَهْبُ بْنُ جَرِيرٍ حَدَّثَنَا أَبِي قَالَ سَمِعْتُ يُونُسَ عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ عَنْ عُبَيْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ قَالَ
خَيْرُ الصَّحَابَةِ أَرْبَعَةٌ وَخَيْرُ السَّرَايَا أَرْبَعُمِائَةٍ وَخَيْرُ الْجُيُوشِ أَرْبَعَةُ آلاَفٍ وَلَنْ يُغْلَبَ اثْنَا عَشَرَ أَلْفًا مِنْ قِلَّةٍ
Translation
Chain of narrators
- Zuhayr b. Ḥarb Abū Khaythamah
- And Hb b. Jarīr
- my father
- Yūnus
- al-Zuhrī
- ʿUbaydullāh b. ʿAbdullāh
- Ibn ʿAbbās
- al-Nabī ﷺ
The Prophet ﷺ said: The best number of companions is four, the best number in expeditions four hundred, and the best number in armies four thousand; and twelve thousand will not be overcome through smallness of numbers. Abu Dawud said: What is correct is that this tradition is mursal (i.e. the link of the Companion is missing).
Notes
قَالَ أَبُو دَاوُدَ وَالصَّحِيحُ أَنَّهُ مُرْسَلٌ
machine translationAbū Dāwūd said: The correct view is that it is mursal.
Grades by grader
| al-Albani | Sound | fawazahmed0, hadithunlocked, sunnah.com |
|---|---|---|
| Muhammad Muhyi al-Din Abd al-Hamid | Sahih | fawazahmed0 |
| Shuayb al-Arnaut | Daif | fawazahmed0 |
| Zubair Ali Zai | Daif | fawazahmed0 |
What scholars said about it
In their own words, as Hadith Unlocked records them. They are shown, not summarised into a grade.
- Abū Ḥatim al-Rāzī
مرسل أشبه لا يحتمل هذا الكلام يكون كلام النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فقلت لأبي فسمع حبان من عقيل بن خالد قال نعم لا أعلم من العراقيين من سمع من عقيل إلا حبان بن علي أخو مندل ومخلد بن الحسين
machine translationIt is a mursal report (mursal) that is more likely correct; these words cannot be the words of the Prophet ﷺ. I said to my father: Did Ḥibbān hear from ʿUqayl b. Khālid? He said: Yes. I do not know of any of the Iraqis who heard from ʿUqayl except Ḥibbān b. ʿAlī, the brother of Mandal, and Mukhallad b. al-Ḥusayn.
in سنن أبي داود, p. 2607 - al-Tirmidhi
حسن غريب
machine translationGood and gharīb (ḥasan gharīb).
in سنن أبي داود, p. 2607 - Dāraquṭnī
يرويه أبو سلمة العاملي عن الزهري عن أنس وأبو سلمة هذا عندنا هو الحكم بن عبد الله بن خطاف وهو متروك الحديث وروي عن عباد بن كثير عن عقيل عن الزهري عن عبيد الله بن عبد الله عن ابن عباس والمحفوظ عن الزهري المرسل
machine translationAbū Salamah al-ʿĀmilī narrates it from al-Zuhrī, from Anas. This Abū Salamah, in our view, is al-Ḥakam b. ʿAbdillāh b. Khaṭṭāf, and he is abandoned in ḥadīth (matrūk al-ḥadīth). It is also narrated from ʿAbbād b. Kathīr, from ʿUqayl, from al-Zuhrī, from ʿUbaydullāh b. ʿAbdillāh, from Ibn ʿAbbās. But what is preserved (maḥfūẓ) from al-Zuhrī is the mursal version.
in سنن أبي داود, p. 2607
Same hadith, other wordings
- Misykatul Mashabih 3912وَعَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ: «خَيْرُ الصَّحَابَةِ أَرْبَعَةٌ وَخَيْرُ السَّرَايَا أَرْبَعُمِائَةٍ وَخَيْرُ الْجُيُوشِ أَرْبَعَةُ آلَافٍ وَلَنْ يُغْلَبَ اثْنَا عَشَرَ أَلْفًا مِنْ قِلَّةٍ». ر
Other narrations of this report
Jami' at-Tirmidhi 3303Sunan Ibn Majah 2827Sunan Ibn Majah 2845al-Mu'jam al-Awsat 6721Musannaf 'Abd al-Razzaq 9793al-Sunan al-Kubra (al-Bayhaqi) 18187al-Sunan al-Kubra (al-Bayhaqi) 18188al-Sunan al-Kubra (al-Bayhaqi) 18551Musnad Abi Ya'la 2588
Narrators
- One of the Companions who narrated most prolifically (mukthirūn).d. 65 AH, or 67 AH, or 68 AH, also said: 69 AH, also said: 70 AH; also said: 73 AHعَبْدُ اللهِ بْنُ عَبَّاسٍأحد المكثرين من الصحابةعن
- trustworthy (thiqah), a jurist (faqīh), firmly reliable (thabt)d. al-Bukhārī said: died before ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn, 94 AH or 95 AH, and Ibn Numayr said, and others: died 98 AH, Ibn al-Madīnī said: 99 AH, Abū Nuʿaym said: that ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn died 92 AHعُبَيْدِ اللهِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللهِثقة فقيه ثبتعن
- The jurist and memorizer (ḥāfiẓ), whose eminence, precision and reliability are agreed upond. Ḍamrah b. Rabīʿah and others said: 123 AH. The nephew of al-Zuhrī and others said: 124 AH. Ibn Yūnus and others said: 125 AHالزُّهْرِيِّالفقيه الحافظ ، متفق على جلالته وإتقانه وثبتهعن
- Trustworthy (thiqah), except that in his narration from al-Zuhrī there are slight errors (awhām), and in his narration from others there is error (khaṭaʾ)d. Ibn Saʿd said: 152 AH, al-Bukhārī and others: 159 AH (and it is the correct view), Muḥammad b. ʿAzīz said: 160 AHيُونُسَثقة ، إلا أن في روايته عن الزهري وهما قليلا ، وفي غير الزهري خطأسمعت
- Trustworthy (thiqah), but there is weakness in his narrations from Qatādah, and he has errors (awhām) when he narrates from memoryd. 170 AH or 177 AH or 179 AH, also said: 167 AHأَبِيثقة ، لكن في حديثه عن قتادة ضعف ، وله أوهام إذا حدث من حفظهنا
- trustworthy (thiqah)d. 206 AH, or 207 AHوَهْبُ بْنُ جَرِيرٍثقةنا
- trustworthy, precise (thiqah thabt)d. 234 AH, also said: 232 AHزُهَيْرُ بْنُ حَرْبٍ أَبُو خَيْثَمَةَثقة ثبتحدثنا
- Trustworthy (thiqah), a memorizer (ḥāfiẓ), the compiler of the Sunan and other works, one of the senior scholars.d. 275 AHأَبُو دَاوُدَ السِّجِسْتَانِيُّثقة ، حافظ , مصنف السنن وغيرها ، من كبار العلماء
Who each narrator was and how reliable, from hdith.com
Latin names and English verdicts with a dotted underline are machine translations, not reviewed.
Commentaries
Sharḥ Riyad al-Salihin (Ibn al-ʿUthaymin)
Mirqāt al-Mafātīḥ (al-Mullā ʿAlī Qārī)
Lamaʿāt al-Tanqīḥ (ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq al-Dihlawī)
ʿAwn al-Maʿbūd (Ashraf)
Read them on Hadith Unlocked