Criticizing Dhahabi’s viewpoints on traditions about Ahlul-Bayt in ‘Al-Mustadrak’ of Hakim

• Main Authors: Alireza Fakhary, Farshad Manaee
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Alzahra University 2013-12-01
• Series: تحقیقات علوم قرآن و حدیث
• Subjects: key words: hakim ’s al-mustadrak; dhahabi; assessment of narrators; the metits of ahlul-bayt’s pbut)
• Online Access: http://tqh.alzahra.ac.ir/article_912_72c67eb9073954478c5ae3d9214aacee.pdf

There are numerous Hadiths about the merits of Ahlul-Bayt(AS) in  Sunni hadith sources. These have been treated differently by Sunni experts and traditionists. Hakim Nayshaburi (405 AH) mentions some of the merits of  Ahlul-Bayt (AS)) in his book entitled ‘Al-Mustadrak’. On the other hand  Dhahabi (748 AH) while  selecting and summarizing the mentioned book in his ‘Talkhis Al-Mustadrak’ evaluates  the Hadiths  quoted by Hakim, which in due course ends in asserting some of them as invalid or ‘weak’ . The question is whether or not Dhahabi in his evaluation of Hakim’s Hadiths has employed  an identical  and precise method. A categorisation and analysis of Dhahabi’s viewpoints  clarifies that he has not dealt with these hadiths similarly  and that his attitude , apart from being inconsistent sometimes, is not valid enough. At times he  mentions his reasons for asserting a Hadith weak; at other times he  deletes a Hadith in his selection without referring to its reason. Ignoring the stand point  of former experts in  Hadith while evaluating the Hadith is another of his weaknesses. This could be taken  as an evident to  his biased attitude towards the  Hadiths on the merits of Ahlul-Bayt in Sunni sources. It can be concluded, therefore, that Dhabi has violated the academic methods; hence, his viewpoints cannot be trusted.