Demonstraton: How criticized narrators transmitted faulty version of Thaqalayn

[Noor-us-Sunnah]

The narrators who were weak or atleast criticized for making mistakes or innovators or were Mudallis whose source is unknown(until they clarify hearing), transmitted the text of Hadeeth Thaqalayn in a faulty form where in they twisted the structure of the wording, which can be noticed when we see the wording structure of the text from criticized narrators in the light of the accurate wording structure. That's why it is  important to interpret or correct the faulty wording structure , in the light of accurate version.

For the benefit of readers, let us demonstrate how the criticized narrators, twisted the structure of the wording, which could be due to the weakness in the retention and accuracy in transmission or due to them being innovators who narrated the structure of the text as per the meaning they interpreted it, which would make it unacceptable, or due to them being Mudallis who would omit the name of the narrator from whom they received the report, etc.  So let's demonstrate the correction of faulty structure wherein we will notice that after the correction of the structure, it will be matching the accurate structure of the hadeeth Thaqalayn, where only Quran was mentioned as a source holding which people will not go astray.

Example 1:

Example of narrator Kathir bin Zayd who was criticized for his weakness in transmission and making mistakes.

Faulty Structure of wording: Narrated Kathir bin Zayd from Mohammad bin Umar bin Ali from his father from Ali ibn Abi Talib(R) - Prophet(S) said: I have left behind over you that which if you hold fast to IT you will never go astray: the Book of Allah – one end of IT is in the Hand of Allah and the other end of IT is in your hands– and my Ahl al-Bayt”.[Musnad Ishaq ibn Rahwayah]

Re-structure of wording in the light of accurate version: Narrated Kathir bin Zayd from Mohammad bin Umar bin Ali from his father from Ali ibn Abi Talib(R) - Prophet(S) said: I have left behind over you the Book of Allah - one end of it is in the Hand of Allah and the other end of it is in your- if you hold fast to it you will never go astray and my Ahl al-bayt.

Note: We didn't add or subtract anything in this re-structure or correction, just flipped the wording.

Accurate structure of wording: Narrated Zaid bin Arqam(R) - Prophet(S) said: I'm leaving among you two weighty things, the first of which is the book of Allah in which is the guidance and light. Whoever holds fast to it and adheres to it, will be following true guidance and whoever deviates from it will go astray. And my Ahl al-bayt, I remind of my Ahl al-bayt.
https://youpuncturedtheark.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/sahih-ibn-khuzaymah-vol-4-page-63-2357.jpg

We didn't add or remove anything in this re-structure, just flipped the wording which now matches the accurate version, and establishes the fact that it was the weakness of the criticized narrator in the chain "Kathir bin Zayd" who didn't narrate this report in the accurate wording structure.

Example 2:

Example of narrator Zayd bin Hassan al-Anmati, who was criticized as Weak and Munkar al-Hadeeth narrator.

The example of weak narrator Zayd bin Hassan al-Anmati is a good example to demonstrate that due to weakness of narrators they narrated the wording of the report in faulty manner, which not only goes against the accurate wording structure, but rather their own alternate transmission.

Faulty structure of wording: Narrated Zayd bin al-Hassan al-Anmati from Jafar bin Mohammad from his Father from Jabir ibn Abdullah(R) - Prophet(SAWS) said, “I left among you, that which if you hold fast to it, you will never go astray, the book of Allah and my Ahlelbayt.
https://youpuncturedtheark.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/jami-ul-tirmidhi-vol6.jpg

Re-structure of wording in the light of accurate version: Narrated Zayd bin al-Hassan al-Anmati from Jafar bin Mohammad from his Father from Jabir ibn Abdullah(R) - Prophet(SAWS) said, “I left among you, the book of Allah, if you hold fast to it, you will never go astray, and my Ahlelbayt.

Note: We didn't add or subtract anything in this re-structure or correction, just flipped the wording. And this correction goes in line with the other transmission of Zayd bin Hassan al-Anmati himself, as we shall see below.

Correct structure of wording transmitted by Zayd bin Hassan himself: Narrated Zayd bin Al Hassan Al-Anmaṭi narrated Ma’ruf bin Kharrabudh from Abu Al-Tufail, from Hudhaifah bin Usaid(R) - Messenger of Allāh(S) said: “I will ask you when you meet me at Al Ḥawdh about Al Thaqalayn, so beware of how you treat them both after me: The Book of Allāh, one of its ends is in the hand of Allāh, and the other is in yours, so hold onto it and do not go astray and change; And my Itrah, the members of my household...
https://youpuncturedtheark.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/mujam-al-tabrani-al-kabeer-vol-3-page-65-2683.jpg

We can see that, this correct structure of wording by Zayd bin Hassan al-Anmati is different than the faulty wording structure, in the correct structure of wording by Zayd bin Hassan al-Anmati himself, Quran alone is to be held inorder to not go astray, and this is supported by the accurate wording structure as we see below.

Accurate structure of wording: Narrated Zaid bin Arqam(R) - Prophet(S) said: I'm leaving among you two weighty things, the first of which is the book of Allah in which is the guidance and light. Whoever holds fast to it and adheres to it, will be following true guidance and whoever deviates from it will go astray. And my Ahl al-bayt, I remind of my Ahl al-bayt.
https://youpuncturedtheark.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/sahih-ibn-khuzaymah-vol-4-page-63-2357.jpg

Example 3:

Example of al-A'mash from Habeeb bin Abi Thabit, Habeeb bin  Abi Thabit is a Mudallis.

Here al-A'mash narrated from Habeeb bin Abi Thabit, who is from third category of Mudalliseen and the narrations from narrators in this category are only accepted if they clarify that they heard it, and Habeeb narrated it without clarifying it; he merely transmits by saying: عن or “from”. Which implies possibility of him dropping or omitting a narrator/or narrators. The narrators whom he possibly dropped could be innovators or weak narrators. Readers should note that there are some routes in which we find that Habeeb bin Abi Thabit adds more narrators prior to him, yet that won't solve the issue because, until he clarified hearing the possibility of him dropping a narrator will remain, since he is a Mudallis. So let's see the faulty structure of wording, narrated by al-A'mash from Habeeb in comparison to al-A'mash narrating the accurate version from Yazid bin Hayyan.

Faulty structure of wording: ...Narrated al-A'mash from Habeeb bin Abi Thabit from Zaid bin Arqam that Prophet(SAWS) said: Indeed, I am leaving among you, that which if you hold fast to it, you shall not be misguided after me. One of them is greater than the other: The Book of Allah is a rope extended from the sky to the earth, and my family - the people of my house. [Tirmidhi Book 49, Hadith 4157].

Correct structure of wording: ...Narrated al-A'mash from Yazid bin Hayyan from Zaid ibn Arqam that Prophet(SAWS) said:  I am leaving among you two weighty things: One of which is book of Allah in which is guidance and light, hold fast to book of Allah and adhere to it. And he encouraged us to adhere to book of Allah. Then he said:"My Ahl al-bayt, I remind you of Allah with regard to my Ahl al-bayt.

https://youpuncturedtheark.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/al-sunnah-of-ibn-abi-asim-vol-2-page-643-1550-1551-1552.jpg

As we can see, this correct wording structure narrated by al-A'mash is in line with the accurate version below, wherein we find Quran alone to be held inorder to not go astray.

Accurate structure of wording: Narrated Zaid bin Arqam(R) - Prophet(S) said: I'm leaving among you two weighty things, the first of which is the book of Allah in which is the guidance and light. Whoever holds fast to it and adheres to it, will be following true guidance and whoever deviates from it will go astray. And my Ahl al-bayt, I remind of my Ahl al-bayt.
https://youpuncturedtheark.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/sahih-ibn-khuzaymah-vol-4-page-63-2357.jpg

This is in-line and corroborated also by the reports of other Sahaba who stated that only Quran was that thing holding which people will not go astray.

(a). Narrated Jabir bin Abdullah that Prophet(S) said: I have left among you something which, if you adhere to it you will never go astray, the Book of Allah. [Sahih Muslim, vol 3, page 343 — 350, #2950(1218)] ; [Musannaf fi al-Ahadeeth wa al-Athar, by Ibn Abi Shaybah, vol 6, page 133, #30077].

(b). Abu Shurayh al-‘Adawi AND Jubair bin Mut’am both narrated: The Prophet(S) said: “This Quran is a means, a part of it is in the hand of Allah and the other part is in your hands, so hold on to it so that you will never go astray or perish afterwards.“[Silsilah al-Sahiha, vol 2, page 230, #713].

(c). Narrated Ibn Abbas: When Prophet(S) asked the people few days before his death, when he was seriously ill, that  "I will write for you a statement after which you will not go astray", Umar(R) said to the people, noticing the condition of Prophet(S) that, "We have got Book of Allah, that is sufficient for us". [Sahih al-Bukhari]

Conclusion based on Rationality:
As we demonstrated before the readers, the narrators who had problems in their report transmission, either due to weakness in retention or due to Tadlees or due to them being innovators, etc, these narrators transmitted the wording of Hadeeth Thaqalayn in a faulty structure, while the authentic and accurate wording structure as found in Sahih Muslim and other books from Zaid bin Arqam, clearly shows Quran alone as being the source of guidance holding which people will not go astray. And the decisive judgement in this matter is based on other authentic reports from multiple Sahaba which clearly state Quran alone as a source of guidance holding which people will not go astray. This is fact is like a sun in a cloudless day, anyone who is honest and rational would definitely acknowledge that multiple authentic reports from various Sahaba mention Quran alone as source of guidance holding which people will not go astray, thus the version of Hadeeth Thaqalayn in Sahih Muslim and other books, from Zaid bin Arqam(R), which mentions Quran alone as source of guidance holding which people won't go astray is the accurate version of Hadeeth Thaqalayn, while those reports which state or interpreted contrary to this version of Quran alone as source of guidance holding which people will not go astray are faulty versions.