“Al-Nu’man Is The Light Of My Ummah” is a fabricated Hadith
To: Abdul-Wakeel Siraji
(Translated)

Question

Assalamu Alaykom Ameer, I’m from Afghanistan, I would like to ask you about the verification of this Hadith; The Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “Al-No’man is the light of my Ummah”. Does this Hadith refer to Abu Hanifa Rahimahullah?

Answer

Wa Alaikum Assalam Wa Rahamtullah Wa Barakatuhu,

During the fourth and fifth centuries of the Hijri calendar, and after the debates and recriminations of the schools of thought (madhahib) became famous and would sometimes go out of the ordinary, fabricated narrations appeared praising this Mujtahid (Scholar of a school of thought), and underestimates other Mujtahideen of the other schools of thought. For example, some followers of Shafii would raise his ranks over the ranks of Abu Hanifa, and some followers of Abu Hanifa would raise his ranks over Shafii and thus some of the followers of other schools of thought... In such an atmosphere, ill-intentioned people appear, narrating fabricated Ahadith without fearing Allah (swt) and His Messenger (saw), alleging that they are supporting their school of thought, while in reality they are not serving their school of thought, but are working on distortion... Among these Ahadeeth are what you mentioned in your question “Al-Nu’man is the light of my Ummah”, and I will mention some of what was reported regarding it.

1- It was mentioned in the book, The History of Baghdad by Abu Bakr Ahmad bin Ali bin Thabit bin Ahmad bin Mahdi al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (deceased on 463 AH):

Hadith number 4545: “Judge Abu Al-A’laa Mohammad bin Ali Al-Wasiti, and Abu Abdullah Ahmad bin Ahmad bin Ali Al-Qasri, narrated to me: that Abu Zayd Al-Hussain bin Al-Hasan bin Ali bin Amer Al-Kindy, in Al-Kufa, narrated to us: that Abu Abdullah Mohammad bin Sa’eed Al-Bouraqi Al-Marwazi, narrated to us: that Sulayman bin Jabir bin Sulayman bin Yaser bin Jaber, said: Bishr bin Yahya said: Al-Fadhl bin Mousa Al-Seenani reported, that Mohammad bin Amr narrated, that Abu Salama narrated, that Abu Hurairah narrated, that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: "إِنَّ فِي أُمَّتِي رَجُلا" “Among my Ummah is a man,” and in the narration of Al-Qasri: “There will be in my Ummah a man called Al-Nu’man, nicknamed Abu Hanifah is the light of my Ummah, is the light of my Ummah, is the light of my Ummah”. Abu Al-‘Alaa’ Al-Wasiti narrated to me: This Hadith was written on my behalf by the judge Abu Abdallah As-Saymari”. Al-Khateeb Al-Baghdadi commented on this Hadith saying: “It is a fabricated Hadith, only being narrated by Al-Bouraqi”. END

2- It was reported in the extracted Musnad of Sahih Muslim by Abu Na’eem Ahmad bin Abdullah bin Ahmad bin Ishaq bin Musa bin Mahran Al-Asbahani (deceased on 430 AH), under number 248, that: “Ma’moun bin Ahmad As-Salami from the people of Harat, is malignant and a fabricator, who narrates fabricated ahadith through trusted narrators like Hisham bin Ammar and Duhaym. He reported the hadith which was narrated by Ahmad Al-Joubari the liar, and Abdullah bin Ma’dan, that Anas reported “There will be in my Ummah a Man named Mohammad bin Idris, and he will be more harmful to my Ummah than Iblis, and there will be in my Ummah a man named Abu Hanifa, he is the light of my Ummah”. He commented on it saying: the narrator of this Hadith deserves to be cursed by Allah (swt) and His Messenger and the Muslims.

3- It was reported in the book: “Al-Ta’yeen Fi Sharh Al-Arba’een” (The Designation in Explaining the Forty Ahadith), for the author Sulayman bin Abdul Qawi bin Abdul Kareem Al-Toufi Al-Sarasari, Abu Al-Rabee’, Najmudeen (deceased on 716 AH): “As for the Hadith “He is the light of my Ummah”, it was mentioned by Al-Jawzi under the fabricated Ahadith, and he mentioned that when the Shafi’I school of thought became famous, the Hanafi followers wanted to defame it, so they spoke to Ahmad Al-Salami, and Ahmad bin Abdullah Al-Jweibary, and they were both liars.

4- It was also mentioned in the book “Uncovering the hidden, and removing the equivocal” by Ismail bin Mohammad bin Abdul Hadi Al-Jarahi Al-Ajlouni Al-Dimashqi, Abu Al-Fidaa’ (deceased on 1162AH), that: ““Abu Hanifa is the light of my Ummah” Al-Qari said under his category of ‘the great fabricated Ahadith’: it is fabricated by the agreement of the narrators.”

Therefore, the statement “Al-Nu’man is the light of my Ummah” is a fabricated Hadith.

Your brother,
Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah

09 Dhul Qi’dah 1438 AH
1/08/2017 CE

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