Conflicting Accounts Of The Political Environment After Usman(RA)Q.to Dr Irfan S
Thank you very much for your response — I really appreciate the time and effort. I am currently doing some research around this subject, so it may sometimes take me a while to respond. I sincerely apologize in advance for any delay in my replies. I do, however, have a follow-up question: if al-Waqidi is considered matrūk (abandoned/weak) by the majority of hadith critics, then how come we find a number of respected scholars and narrators who not only narrated from him but in some cases even regarded him as trustworthy (ṣiqah)? For example, in Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ it is mentioned that the following narrated from him: محمد بن سعد كاتبه ، وأبو بكر بن أبي شيبة ، وأبو حسان الحسن بن عثمان الزيادي ، ومحمد بن شجاع الثلجي ، وسليمان بن داود الشاذكوني ، ومحمد بن يحيى الأزدي ، وأحمد بن عبيد بن ناصح ، وأبو بكر الصاغاني ، والحارث بن أبي أسامة ، ومحمد بن الفرج الأزرق ، وأحمد بن الوليد الفحام ، وأحمد بن الخليل البرجلاني ، وعبد الله بن الحسن الهاشمي ، وعدة. And al-Waqidi was narrated from by: his scribe Muḥammad ibn Saʿd, Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah, Abū Ḥassān al-Ḥasan ibn ʿUthmān al-Ziyādī, Muḥammad ibn Shujāʿ al-Thaljī, Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd al-Shādhakūnī, Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Azdī, Aḥmad ibn ʿUbayd ibn Nāṣiḥ, Abū Bakr al-Ṣāghānī, al-Ḥārith ibn Abī Usāmah, Muḥammad ibn al-Faraj al-Azraq, Aḥmad ibn al-Walīd al-Faḥḥām, Aḥmad ibn al-Khalīl al-Barjalānī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥasan al-Hāshimī, and a number of others. Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ Furthermore, Imām al-Dhahabī himself records in detail in Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ some of the statements of tawthīq (declarations of reliability) regarding al-Waqidi, such as: قال إبراهيم الحربي : سمعت مصعب بن عبد الله يقول : الواقدي ثقة مأمون. Ibrāhīm al-Ḥarbī said: I heard Muṣʿab ibn ʿAbd Allāh say: al-Waqidi is trustworthy and reliable. وروى جابر بن كردي ، عن يزيد بن هارون ، قال : الواقدي ثقة. Jābir ibn Kurdī narrated from Yazīd ibn Hārūn, who said: al-Waqidi is trustworthy. الحربي : سمعت أبا عبد الله يقول : الواقدي ثقة. Al-Ḥarbī said: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh say: al-Waqidi is trustworthy. ثم قال إبراهيم الحربي : وهو إمام كبير … Then Ibrāhīm al-Ḥarbī said: He is a great Imām… وقال مصعب الزبيري : حدثني من سمع عبد الله بن المبارك ، يقول : كنت أقدم المدينة ، فما يفيدني ويدلني على الشيوخ إلا الواقدي. Muṣʿab al-Zubayrī said: Someone who heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak told me, he used to say: When I would come to Madinah, no one benefitted me or guided me to the shuyūkh except al-Waqidi. وقال موسى بن هارون : سمعت مصعبا الزبيري يذكر الواقدي ، فقال : والله ما رأينا مثله قط. Mūsā ibn Hārūn said: I heard Muṣʿab al-Zubayrī mention al-Waqidi, and he said: By Allah, we have never seen anyone like him. إبراهيم بن جابر ، قال : سمعت الرمادي وحدث بحديث عقيل ، عن ابن شهاب ، قال : هذا مما ظلم فيه الواقدي. Ibrāhīm ibn Jābir said: I heard al-Ramādī narrate a hadith from ʿUqayl, from Ibn Shihāb, and he said: This is one of the things in which al-Waqidi was wronged. 📖 Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ Given all this — how do we reconcile the fact that major hadith critics declared him matrūk, while many other respected scholars not only narrated from him but explicitly considered him reliable and even praised him?