Ahmad Shakir: Criticism on Qadi Abu Yusuf is unjust
Renowned hadith scholar Shaykh Ahmad Shakir in annotations to a Hadith in his research on Musnad Ahmad defends the great jurist and the most prominent of the students of Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Abu Yusuf al-Qadi, against criticism by some hadith scholars.
أبو يوسف القاضي : ثقة صدوق تكلموا فيه بغير حق ترجمه البخاري في ” الكبير ” 4 / 397 : 2 ، وقال : تركوه وقال في ” الضعفاء ” ص 38 : تركه يحيى وابن مهدي وغيرهما وترجمه الذهبي في ” الميزان ” 447 : 4 ، والحافظ في ” لسان الميزان ” 300 : 6 ، والخطيب في ” تاريخ بغداد ” ترجمة حافلة (14:242.262) ، وأعدل ما قيل فيه قول أحمد بن كامل عند الخطيب : ولم يختلف يحيى بن معين وأحمد بن حنبل وعلي بن المديني في ثقته في النقل
Abu Yusuf al-Qadi: Trustworthy, reliable. People have criticized him unjustly. Al-Bukhari mentions him in Tarikh al-Kabir 4/397 and said, “They have rejected him.” And in al-Du’afa p.38 he said, “He was rejected by Yahya and Ibn Mahdi and others.” Adh-Dhahabi makes a mention of him in al-Mizan 4/447 and al-Hafiz in Lisan al-Mizan 6/300. Al-Khatib gives his detailed account in Tarikh Baghdad 14/242-262. The most just saying about him is the statement of Ahmad bin Kamil given by al-Khatib, “Yahya bin Ma’in, Ahmad bin Hanbal and ‘Ali bin al-Madini did not differ in grading him as trustworthy in reporting.”
See, Ahmad Shakir (ed.), Musnad Ahmad, (Cairo: Dar al-Hadith, 1995) vol.6 p.268
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