The Book of Friday Prayer, the Two Festivals, the Prayer for Rain, the Eclipse Prayer, and Funerals-09a
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The reciter: And Ishaq ibn Ibrahim and Harun ibn Abdullah both narrated to us from Wahb ibn Jarir from Shu'bah from Isma'il ibn Abi Khalid. And Abu Ghassan Muhammad ibn Amr al-Razi narrated to me, Yahya ibn al-Durays narrated to us, Ibrahim ibn Tahman narrated from Abu Husayn, both of them from al-Sha'bi from Ibn Abbas from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding his prayer over the grave, similar to the hadith of al-Shaybani, and their hadith does not contain: .
The Shaykh : It appears that Muslim (may Allah have mercy on him) intended to point out a defect in the previous hadiths or the previous wordings by stating that this group, despite their large number, did not mention that he said takbir four times. However, it is said: the narrators in the previous wordings are all trustworthy, and an addition from a trustworthy narrator is accepted. This addition does not contradict the omission, because an omission is not a mention of absence, so there is no contradiction. However, if these narrators had said "he did not say takbir four times" or "he said takbir once," then we would seek to determine which is stronger. But an omission, when the one who added the detail is trustworthy, should not be used to point out a defect in the hadith. Rather, it is said: he said takbir four times, and there is no problem with that. This is also the custom of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in his prayers over the dead, as in the story of the Negus.
It remains to be said: al-Sha'bi (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated it as a mursal (missing the Companion link) in the first wordings, until he was asked, "Who informed you of this?" What is the reason he narrated it as mursal and did not clarify the connection until he was asked? It appears that some hadith scholars do this to test those who narrate to them: do they ask or not? If other narrations from him indicate that the hadith is connected, then there is no problem. Otherwise, there is no doubt that if he narrated it as mursal without clarification, it would be a reduction of the hadith's rank, since a mursal hadith is a category of weak hadith. However, narrators have actions necessitated by the situation when narrating; they may mention what a person might find strange, but for a reason. And this—meaning the issue of testing—occurs frequently, even among us. Perhaps a teacher, for example, speaks with an error, and we do not know about Jabir speaking with an error, then he realizes he made a mistake but wants to test those around him.
And he said takbir four times.
وَكَبَّرَ أَرْبَعًاThe Shaykh : It appears that Muslim (may Allah have mercy on him) intended to point out a defect in the previous hadiths or the previous wordings by stating that this group, despite their large number, did not mention that he said takbir four times. However, it is said: the narrators in the previous wordings are all trustworthy, and an addition from a trustworthy narrator is accepted. This addition does not contradict the omission, because an omission is not a mention of absence, so there is no contradiction. However, if these narrators had said "he did not say takbir four times" or "he said takbir once," then we would seek to determine which is stronger. But an omission, when the one who added the detail is trustworthy, should not be used to point out a defect in the hadith. Rather, it is said: he said takbir four times, and there is no problem with that. This is also the custom of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in his prayers over the dead, as in the story of the Negus.
It remains to be said: al-Sha'bi (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated it as a mursal (missing the Companion link) in the first wordings, until he was asked, "Who informed you of this?" What is the reason he narrated it as mursal and did not clarify the connection until he was asked? It appears that some hadith scholars do this to test those who narrate to them: do they ask or not? If other narrations from him indicate that the hadith is connected, then there is no problem. Otherwise, there is no doubt that if he narrated it as mursal without clarification, it would be a reduction of the hadith's rank, since a mursal hadith is a category of weak hadith. However, narrators have actions necessitated by the situation when narrating; they may mention what a person might find strange, but for a reason. And this—meaning the issue of testing—occurs frequently, even among us. Perhaps a teacher, for example, speaks with an error, and we do not know about Jabir speaking with an error, then he realizes he made a mistake but wants to test those around him.