Khalifah of Every Believer After Me
Answer to Hadith: “You’re the Khalifah of Every Believer after me”
Imam Ibn Abi el-‘Assim narrated with his chain from Ibn ‘Abbas (رضي الله عنه) who narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said to ‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib (رضي الله عنه): “You are to me like Harun was to Mussa, except that you’re not a Prophet and you are my successor in every believer after me”.
One must keep in mind that this hadith mentioned by Imam Ibn Abi el-‘Assim was originally from a lengthy narration with the same chain of narration about the virtues of ‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib عليه السلام.
Abu Balj narrates from ‘Amr Ibn Maymoun who narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas: …
This explanation will address the following points:
☞ Al-Albani’s stance regarding the authenticity of this report.
☞ Is Abu Balj reliable?
☞ The statements of scholars regarding this hadith.
❶ Regarding al-Albani Stating that the Chain is “hasan” Doesn’t Necessarily Guarantee the Reliability of the Matn Itself
Someone who has researched the rulings of hadith science would know this.
Imam Ibn Kathir رحمه الله said: “Declaring the chain authentic or good does not necessitate the same ruling upon the text (of the hadith) since it could be odd or defective.”
Imam a-Suyuti said: “The authenticity of the chain does not necessitate the authenticity of the text, as it has been established in the sciences of the hadith, since it’s possible for the chain to be authentic while the text has oddness or a defect that forbids its authenticity.”
Ibn a-Salah said: “Their saying: “This hadith is authentic or good in its chain” is different than their saying: “This hadith is authentic or good”; because one can say: “This chain of hadith is authentic” and it’s (i.e. the text) not authentic due to oddness or defect.”
Dr. Mahmoud a-Tahan said: “It is possible for the the chain to be authentic or good (fair) without the matn, due to oddness or a defect.”
That said, . al-Albani ه addressed this report when he said: “And as for that which the Shia mention with regards to this hadith and others (like hadith al-Manzila) that the Prophet ﷺ said about ‘Ali رضي الله عنه: “He is my successor after me”…”
“Then this is not correct (not authentic) in any way. Rather, it is one of their many falsehoods which history has proven to be lies. That is because if we were to imagine that the Prophet ﷺ said this, then it would’ve happened as he said, because it’s a revelation…”
“Being revealed (to him by Allah) and Allah the Most High does not go against his promise.” [end quote].
It’s clear now that . al-Albani does not accept the content of the hadith even though he declared the chain to be “good” or “fair”.
❷ In the chain of this hadith we find a narrator by the name of Abu Balj, whose full name is Yahya Ibn Salim Ibn Balj.
This narrator, despite being truthful, it is said that he makes many errors in narrating ahadith, thus we only accept his corroborated reports.
Imam Ibn Hiban رحمه الله said about him: “He narrates from (…) ‘Amr Ibn Maymoun. (…) He was from those who used to make mistakes. However, his mistakes were not so severe to the extent that he deserved to be rejected…”
“Nor did he do something (mistake) that (the average) human wouldn’t make, thus one should be fair in dealing with him. Hence why I see that one should only refrain from using (as evidence) the narrations which he alone narrates.”
Sh. Shu’aib al-Arna’ut رحمه الله commented on this narration with the following: “It’s weak with this context (…) The most fair statements said about him is to accept his hadith as long as he is not the only one to narrate it as Ibn Hiban said in “al-Majruhin”.”
And this narration with the wording: “It would not be fitting for me to leave this world except that would be my successor upon every believer after me.” is from the reports which Abu Balj narrated alone. Hence why it should not be accepted.
❸ As for the opinions of the scholars with regards of this hadith, then there are many to talk about.
► The scholars who believed it to be authentic:
One of the scholars who have authenticated this report is Imam al-Hakim a-Neysaburi, in his famous work: “al-Mustadrak”
However, we have know before that al-Hakim is lenient when it comes to authenticating weak reports.
Another scholar they often cite is Sh. Ahmad Shakir. However, this also is not enough for two reasons:
1). He says that the chain is authentic and we’ve demonstrated earlier that the authenticity of the chain doesn’t guarantee the authenticity of the content of the report.
► The scholars who rejected the hadith are much more in number and are much more credible than the ones who authenticated this weak hadith.
1). Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal رحمه الله when he said about Abu Balj: “He narrated a “munkar” hadith.”
2). Imam Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali رحمه الله said that the munkar hadith that Imam Ahmad رحمه الله referred to is the same lengthy report which Abu Balj narrated from ‘Amr Ibn Maymoun from Ibn ‘Abbas in virtues of Ali رضي الله عنهما.
2). Ibn Taymiya رحمه الله stated that the hadith is a lie attributed to the Prophet ﷺ.
3). Imam a-Dhahabi رحمه الله affirmed the statement of Ibn Taymiya.
4). Albani as mentioned earlier in the thread.
5). Sh. Shu’ayb al-Arna’ut under the footnotes of Musnad Ahmad.
✎ Conclusion: The narrations of Abu Balj are only accepted if they came through other routes in which he isn’t included. And in the case of the hadith in discussion, Abu Balj is the only one to narrate it in this wording.
also, some scholars have written that Haroon AS passed away before Musa AS so that narration simply cannot mean a “successor” one.