Hadith No: 5
Al-Ziyāʾlī - Takhrīj al-Aḥādīth wa al-Āthār waqīʿah fī Tafsīr al-Kashāf lil-Zamakhsharī - Surah al-Nahl
Volume: (2) - Page Number: (229 > 232)
[The text is lengthy, so only the relevant excerpt is provided here]
678 - Hadith Six: .... Ibrahim ibn Musa narrated to us, saying: Yazid ibn Harun narrated to us, from Juwaybir
from Jawab ibn Ubaydullah, who said: The Messenger (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) said: "The example of my companions is like the stars in the sky. Whoever takes hold of a star from them will be guided, and whichever statement of my companions you follow, you will be guided." Then al-Bayhaqī said: "This is a well-known hadith, and all its chains are weak; nothing from them has been established."
- As for the hadith that follows, al-Dārqutnī narrated it in his book entitled Gharā'ib Mālik, saying: Isma'il ibn Yahya al-Absi narrated to us, from al-Hasan ibn Mahdī ibn Abdah al-Marwazī, from Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Sukkarī, from Abu Yahya Bakr ibn Isa al-Marwazī, from Jamil ibn Yazid,
from Malik ibn Anas, from Ja'far ibn Muhammad, from his father, from Jabir, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) said: "Whatever you find in the Book of Allah, you must act upon; you have no excuse to leave it for anything else. What you do not find in the Book of Allah, but which is my Sunnah, you must also act upon; you have no excuse to leave it for anything else. What you are not given in the Book of Allah and is not in my Sunnah, you should refer to my companions. Whichever statement of my companions you follow will guide you, for the example of my companions is like the stars. Whoever takes hold of a star from them will be guided." Then he said: "This cannot be reliably attributed to Malik, and his narrators are unknown."
- He also narrated in his book al-Mu'talif wa al-Mukhtalif from another path, saying: Ahmad ibn Kamil ibn Khalaf narrated to us, from Abdullah ibn Ruh, from Salam ibn Sulayman al-Madaiʾni, from al-Harith ibn Ghusayn,
from al-A'mash, from Abu Sufyan, from Jabir, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) said: "My companions are like the stars; whichever one you follow will guide you." He mentioned this in the biography of al-Harith ibn Ghusayn, noting that he had narrated it with the subtle point of the negation. Al-Harith ibn Ghusayn narrates from Mansur, al-A'mash, Husayn, and Layth ibn Abi Salim, and others. Salam ibn Sulayman al-Madaiʾni and Yahya ibn Ya'la al-Aslami, among others, narrated from him.
Ibn Tahir said: "This narration is weak due to Salam al-Madaiʾni, for he is considered unreliable."- As for the hadith from Abu Hurairah, al-Qudai narrated it in Musnad al-Shihab, saying: Abu al-Fath ibn Mansur ibn Ali al-Anmazhi narrated to us, from Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Rashiq, from Muhammad ibn Ja'far ibn Muhammad, from Ja'far ibn Abdul-Wahid al-Hashimi,
from Wahb ibn Jarir ibn Hazim, from his father, from al-A'mash, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurairah, from the Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny), who said: "The example of my companions is like the stars; whoever follows something from them will be guided." And this is considered weak due to Ja'far ibn Abdul-Wahid. It was reported from al-Dārqutnī that he said concerning him: "He used to fabricate hadith." Ibn Tahir said: "He used to narrate strange things from trustworthy sources. Even if this narration were to be valid, it would be correct."
- As for the hadith from Ibn Umar, Abd ibn Humayd narrated it in his Musnad, and al-Dārqutnī in his book on the virtues of the companions, both from the narration of Hamzah al-Jazari from Nafi' from Ibn Umar, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) said: "My companions are like the stars; whoever takes hold of a star will be guided." Ibn Adi narrated it in al-Kamil, stating that it is a strange hadith. He said: "Hamzah al-Jazari is Hamzah ibn Hamzah al-Nasibi, who used to fabricate hadith." Ibn Tahir said: "Hamzah al-Nasibi is a liar."
Al-Bishr ibn al-Husayn al-Isbahani also narrated it from al-Zubair ibn Uday from Anas, and this Bishr narrated from al-Zubair fabricated narrations.
- A hadith on the same topic was narrated by al-Bayhaqi in his book al-Madkhal, who said: Abu Abdullah al-Hafiz narrated to us, from Abu al-Abbas Muhammad ibn Ya'qub, from Bakr ibn Sahil, from Nu'aym ibn Hammad, from Abd al-Rahim ibn Zayd al-'Ammi, from his father, from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, from Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) said to me: "I asked my Lord, Mighty and Majestic be He, about what my companions would differ on after me, and He revealed to me, 'O Muhammad, your companions are to me like the stars in the sky; some are brighter than others. Whoever holds onto something from their differences is on guidance.'" This is also considered weak due to Abd al-Rahim al-'Ammi. Ibn Ma'in said: "He is a liar." He said at another time: "He is nothing." Al-Bukhari and al-Nasa'i said: "They abandoned him," and Abu Dawud said: "His narrations are weak." There is also a possibility of a break in the chain between Sa'id and Umar.