The questioner : May Allah preserve you. Also, some of the Tabi'un sometimes say, "A man from the Ansar narrated to me." Does that necessarily mean he was a Companion?

The questioner : May Allah preserve you. Also, some of the Tabi'un sometimes say, "A man from the Ansar narrated to me." Does that necessarily mean he was a Companion?

The Shaykh : No.

The questioner : It is not necessary.

The Shaykh : Unless he is known, and I have an example of this. When I was in Damascus, I authenticated a hadith in Abu Dawud whose chain is weak, which says, in meaning: The chain in Abu Dawud is weak, but I included it in the Sahih of Abu Dawud thirty years ago or more. The reason is that I found a corroborating narration (shahid) in al-Bayhaqi's Sunan, the Musnad al-Kabir of al-Bayhaqi. Through the route of 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Abi Rafi', it says here as the shahid: "A man from the Ansar narrated to me." And he mentioned the hadith. I said, here the shahid is that this man from the Ansar is either a Companion, in which case the chain is valid, because 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Abi Rafi' is trustworthy and one of the menThe Shaykh : of the Companions. Or he is a Tabi'i, in which case he is an unknown man, i.e., an unknown Tabi'i. We return now to some of the previous questions. This is cited as evidence because the one who narrated from him is trustworthy, meaning he is relied upon inThe Shaykh : narration and he narrates from a Tabi'i who is from the Ansar. This is under the second assumption. Days passed like this, then it was decreed for me to open an old manuscript, which is considered a treasure in the Zahiriyyah Library in Damascus. It is the Masail of Ishaq ibn Mansur al-Marwazi for Imam Ahmad ibn Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, in a very old hand. And there, this hadith is narrated, which al-Bayhaqi narrated through the route of 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Abi Rafi', who said, "A man from the Ansar narrated to me, saying: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say..." When we are certain that the first possibility is the stronger position, I became more confident in what I had authenticated regarding the hadith of Abu Dawud, which is weak. And unfortunately, many of our brothers among the people of hadith still say today that catching up with the bowing (ruku') is not catching up with the rak'ah, even though this hadith, if it had no shahid, is another matter. But it is added to what preceded, the hadith of Abu Dawud. If it did not have such a shahid, the practice of the righteous Salaf would suffice as testimony for it. Abu Bakr, Ibn Mas'ud, Zayd ibn Thabit, and Ibn 'Umar, all of them used to say that catching up with the bowing is catching up with the rak'ah. So much so that it is authentically reported of Ibn Mas'ud that he went to the mosque as a layman and caught up with the imam while he was bowing. When the imam finished the prayer, the man stood up to perform a rak'ah, but Ibn Mas'ud pulled him back and said, "You have caught up with the rak'ah." If there were nothing to testify to the marfu' hadith except the practice of the Companions, I would be satisfied with that testimony, for it is a strong testimony. And this is exactly like what we mentioned earlier about that unknown Yemeni, who is still unknown to us.

The questioner : He is still unknown.

The Shaykh : Yes, the point is that this is a study of the hadiths of the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) opening supplication with "Subhanak Allahumma," even though it was mentioned because Ibn 'Umar used to teach people this while in prayer. This supports this weak hadith, and any support is what can be considered an answer to what you asked.

The questioner : May Allah bless you.

The Shaykh : And may He reward you.