Question
I remember reading in your criticism of the hadiths that stipulate Aisha’s age when she married the Prophet(PBUH)to 9 years of age. Now i remember you saying something bout any hadith that is narrated by Hisham Ibn Urwah, through the people of Iraq, is not reliable because of Hisham’s memory at the time he was living in Iraq. I once showed those articles to a critic of Islam that i know, and he asked me to ask you to explain which one of the narrators in each of those hadiths, is from Iraq, and which books on Rijal say so about the certain narrator.
I would be very grateful if you could answer this question for me.
fi amanillah
Answer
The assertion that all the reporters who report the referred narrative from Hasham Bin Urwah are from Kufa is a historical fact. For those who have an acquaintance with the science of the Ahadith it is not difficult to find it out as it is given in all the books written about the life history and characters of those persons who have reported anything from or about the Prophet (sws). None of the narrators in the chain under consideration comes from Medina where Hasham lived most of his life. This being a historical fact needs no proof other than consulting the books on rijal. Those who do not accept this assertion need to come up with an exception. However, we will refer here to two of the narratives reported by Bukhari. Bukhari No: 3681 gives the chain of the reporters before giving the text of the Hadith as follows:
Farwa Bin Abi al-Maghraa reports from Ali Bin Mashar who reports from Hasham Bin Urwah who reports from his father……..
Ali Bin Msahar who reports from Hasham comes from Kufa. His very name according to the famous book on rijal, Tahdheeb-al-Tahdheeb is Ali Bin Mashar al-Qarshi Abu -al-Hassan al-Kufi al-Hafiz Qaszi al-Mousal. [Tahdheeb-al-Tahdheeb volume 7 page 35, CD edition]
The chain of reporters in another report in Bukhari [No: 3683] is as follows:
Abid Bin Ismael reported from Abu ‘Usamah who reported from Hasham who narrated from his father…….
The reporter next to Hasham here in this tradition is Abu Usamah who also comes from Kufa. His full name as given in Tahdheeb-al-Tahdheeb is Hammad Bin Usamah Bin Zaid al-Qarshi al-Kufi. [Tahdheeb-al-Tahdheeb volume 3, page 3 CD edition]
Similar is the case with other reports. However I still reiterate that if anyone claims that there is a tradition about the issue, reported by a complete Medinan chain, should give reference to that tradition. This will obviously force us to revise our related statement.
I hope this helps.
Tariq Mahmood Hashmi
November 10, 2002