مرويات إسماعيل بن عياش في السنن الأربعة : دراسة نقدية تطبيقية في ضوء علم علل الحديث

Abstract

This study aims to reveal the methodology of hadith scholars in dealing with the narrations of Imam Isma’il ibn ’Ayyash from his non-Levant teachers in the four authentic hadith books. This study is a critical study and analysis in the view of hadith defect science (‘Ilal al-Hadith). Imam Isma’il ibn ’Ayyash has been chosen as the study matter because he has been mentioned many times by scholars as an example of those narrators whose narrations from certain teachers from certain regions are accepted while other narrations from other teachers from other regions are rejected. In this study, the researcher attempts to highlight the history of this scholar and his position in knowledge amongst other scholars especially in the areas of hadith. He attempts to deduce the methodology of the authors of the four hadith books in choosing their narrators and extracting their narrations to be recorded in their books. The researcher tries to highlight the connection between two important knowledge in hadith science namely al-Jarh wa at-Ta’dil and ’Ilal al-Hadith. The researcher follows the academic methodology to collect, describe and analyse the information regarding the biography of Imam Isma’il ibn ’Ayyash and his academic works in various books and sources. Throughout the study, the researcher finds many results and outcomes, some of the important results of the study are: Imam Isma’il ibn’Ayyash was considered a trustworthy narrator by his Levant teachers and his narrations from them are classified as authentic and strong, but on other hand, his narrations from his non-Levant teachers are classified as weak. The reason is his book which contains the narrations of his non-Levant teachers had been lost and he did not have the opportunity to memorize the book well. Based on this reason, Imam Nasaie recorded only one hadith of his from his non-Levant teachers, and he classified it as weak based on the weakness of this narrator. Imam Abu Daud did not mention any narration of his in his book except those which he acquired from his Levant teachers based on fact that his narrations from them were regarded as authentic and strong. As far as Imam Tirmizi is concerned, he mentions both types of narrations of Imam Isma’il ibn ’Ayyash and he verifies the narrations himself by stating the status of the narrations. On the other hand, Imam Ibn Majah who records both types of narrations of Imam Isma’il ibn ’Ayyash, does not classify the narrations, and he mentions quite a large number of his narrations from his non-Levant teachers but most of them are weak because of the weakness of Imam Isma’il ibn ’Ayyash, while some of them are classified as fabricated according to hadith scholars because of narrators from Imam Isma’il ibn ’Ayyash.