# Why does Mufti Abu Layth say the Bukhari chain for Jesus's descent is unreliable? *The first Bukhari chain: ambiguous names, al-Bukhari's practice, and al-Zuhri's insertions* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/tr3nsx3ufy8/s/23/ - Date: 2021-03-14 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Reply to Yasir Qadhi's False Claims on 2nd Coming of Jesus | Mufti Abu Layth (1:35:56–1:45:14) - Status: general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR3NSX3UFy8&t=5756s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/tr3nsx3ufy8/ **Topics:** Narrator criticism; Sahih al-Bukhari (BukhariGate); The second coming of Jesus **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** The first Bukhari chain leaves two narrators' names ambiguous, a practice al-Dhahabi and Ibn Hajar record of al-Bukhari, and passes through al-Zuhri, whom the critics describe as inserting his own words into reports and making mursal reports reach the Prophet. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says the first Bukhari chain for Jesus's descent is unreliable because al-Bukhari left the names of Ishaq and Salih ambiguous, which he says al-Bukhari did on purpose with teachers' names so as to deceive readers, as al-Dhahabi and Ibn Hajar record, and because al-Zuhri was known to insert his own words into reports and to make mursal reports reach the Prophet. **Evidence, his words at 1:36:44:** “buhari actually is known on several occasions to do to to kind of make names ambiguous so as to deceive his readers” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR3NSX3UFy8&t=5804s) ## Longer summary Mufti Abu Layth takes the first hadith Qadhi presents from Bukhari on the descent of Jesus and asks who the Ishaq and the Salih in its chain are, since al-Bukhari left their names ambiguous. He says al-Bukhari is known on several occasions to make names ambiguous: al-Dhahabi records that he would cite his teacher Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Dhuhli as Muhammad, Muhammad ibn Abdullah or Muhammad ibn Khalid, names he was never known by, when al-Bukhari had some eighty teachers called Muhammad, so that readers would think he meant someone else; Ibn Hajar and al-Dhahabi accept this. He says al-Bukhari transmits from some fifteen men called Ishaq, that Ibn Hajar and al-Jayyani [?] disagree about which is meant here, and that the candidates for Salih include a transmitter whom al-Bukhari himself admits to be weak in places and whom Abu Zur'a called munkar, so with deliberate ambiguity the identification is unreliable. Turning to al-Zuhri, he says he was known for idraj, inserting his own words into reports: a contemporary and teacher of Malik asked him to distinguish his own words from the Prophet's because he mixed them in; Ibn Rajab reports from al-Bukhari that al-Zuhri would insert sentences and make mursal reports reach the Prophet; Ibn Hajar transmits that of twenty-two reports of his only half reached the Prophet and that his mursal reports are like hot air; al-Shafi'i called his mursalat baseless; and al-Layth ibn Sa'd wrote to Malik that al-Zuhri would tell different parties different things, which is why they abandoned him. He adds that scholars attribute the report of the Prophet wanting to end his life to al-Zuhri's own insertion. ## Sources and names cited - report: yanzilu fikum ibn maryam hakaman adlan - report: the prophet tried to end his life on several occasions - Sahih al-Bukhari - al-Bukhari - al-Dhahabi - Ibn Hajar - Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Dhuhli - al-Jayyani [?] - Abu Zur'a - al-Zuhri - Imam Malik - Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali - al-Shafi'i - al-Layth ibn Sa'd - mubham (an unnamed narrator) - idraj - mursal ## Transcript (machine tier, 1:35:56–1:45:14) [1:35:32] [Laughter] you see see what he doesn't anticipate he doesn't anticipate the research you know the research so big eddie said he spent a day and a half doing research meridian we spent a bit longer than that right so let's take a look at this first hadith now he says the hadith in the [1:36:07] bukhari and muslim are untouchable untouchable what is it if i was made out of iron they would have broken me like in but i'm much stronger than i and my friend so here he brings this hadith in bukhari now this hadith by the way um the where that jesus abu hurairah you've got the son of ishaq [1:36:44] from ibrahim uh he's saying from his uh he says ibrahim's telling him from now it's interesting people if you look at this chain who is this ishaq and who is saleh why has bukhari left their names mubham he's not kind of disclosed them why because now you may say well what's the big deal with that well buhari actually is known on several occasions to do to to kind of [1:37:21] make names ambiguous so as to deceive his readers now for example right here you can see on the left hand side the hebby is quoting that he would use the name of his famous teacher muhammad but he would write either muhammad or he would write he would write muhammad or write muhammad ibn abdullah or he'd write muhammad ibn khalid now none of these people muhammad ibn yahya was never known by those names and buhari would do this on purpose do you know why [1:37:58] because he has almost 80 teachers who are called muhammad so when he says muhammad you don't know which muhammad he's talking about he has 80 people muhammad ibn abdullah he has at least almost seven teachers by that name when he would use that muhammad ibn khalid he has almost three teachers by that name and note that muhammad is how he's known but he on purpose is avoiding the name that he's known by so as to deceive the readers or the listeners into thinking this is one of his other teachers ibn hajjar accepts this the habi accepts this as you can see on the left hand [1:38:37] side right there then this is heart that you've got here so which ishaq is this because the question is that one would say well you see because imam bukhari has almost 15 different isharps who he transmits from so which is this some people say this is ibrahim but then ibrahim he has seven different ishaq ibn ibrahims [1:39:08] people like ibn hajjar al-jubai say so the person is taking it from here is not is hakim na rahway's teacher right so hmm however there are other ishaq's who yakub ibrahim is their teacher including people like uh [1:39:44] also you've got yeah i mean that there's others but okay let's take him as an example we abandoned him sanji said he is next person in the chain saleh right okay who is this people say it's [1:40:23] on but is it is it both of these were in medina both have transmitted from zohari and right and yet and bukhari does take from these people in certain places you see the reason this that we're saying let's say is it him even bukhari himself has to admit [1:41:00] in places he's weak abu zura himself has to admit that his munka in him now you may say well is he them now you tell me when bukhari has so many different teachers by the same name and he on purpose is using mubham he's refusing to disclose the full name [1:41:39] when he does this as a trait he does this with muhammad yahya he on purpose quotes him just as muhammad knowing that he's got 80 muhammad so you're going to be confused how is this then how is this reliable do you want us to accept this is just a coincidence no my friend but what about zohari the daddy people now check this out zohari is known to do it raj he's known to add into a sunnah add into a hadith people would highlight that zohari [1:42:17] um you would see so for example uh his contemporaries would ask him that can you please distinguish you what the words which are yours from the prophet because we know you do this a lot you mix it in would say my situation is totally different from you he would say this to zohari he says that what i say i say from my own self and you say it on the authority of the prophet so meaning your opinions you project them onto the prophet this is the teacher of imam malik [1:42:54] saying it to him in madina i would also say when you narrate something according to your own opinion always make it clear please that this is your opinion it's not the hadith of the prophet because this was something zohori had started to do ibn rajab narrates from bukhari that zohari would narrate a hadith on many occasions and insert sentences from himself in these hadith they would be mursal hadith as in they don't reach the prophet but he would make them reach the prophet then he just at least he blags the names imam [1:43:33] many of these people acknowledge this says out of the 22 hadith narrated by zohari only half reached the prophet the other half not really ibn hajjar transmits as well hadith don't reach the prophet these things are so useless he says they are like nothing but hot air that's actually his words um even imam shafa he says his mur salat are baseless check this out imam leith ibn saad when [1:44:11] writing to imam malik he says to him you know when we used to meet ibn zuri he would there would be a difference of opinion in many things he would tell us one thing then he would go and tell a different party a different thing and he would transmit to a third party a different thing this is why we abandoned azori that's imam leith writing in his famous letter to imam malik right so you tell me is ibn shayab zory reliable and when he says he doesn't even say that but when he says that he's he blacks it the hadith of the prophet wanted to commit suicide they say [1:44:50] it's from zohari he made it up but he just projected it to the prophet right so you've got this okay this is one hadith in bukhari okay let's see now here's another hadith he presents this in bukhari ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment TR3NSX3UFy8/s/23. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/tr3nsx3ufy8/s/23/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.