The problematic nature of Al-Radd ‘alā al-Zanādiqa wa-l-Jahmiyya attributed to Imam Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal
The treatise entitled “The Refutation of the Heretics and the Jahmiyya” [“Al-Radd ʿalā al-Zanādiqa wa-l-Jahmiyya”] attributed to Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal has been published and disseminated by various Salafī writers in contemporary times. The transmission chain for this text was documented by Ibn Abī Yaʿlā in his biographical compendium Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābila (2/47) as follows:
نقل عن عبد الله بن إمامنا أحمد رضى الله عنه أشياء. ٢ / ٤٧ منها الرد على الجهمية، فيما قرأته على المبارك بن عبد الجبار عن إبراهيم عن عبد العزيز أبو بكر الخلال أخبرنى خضر بن مثنى الكندى قال: حدثنا عبد الله بن أحمد بن حنبل قال: قال أبى
“Various things were transmitted from ʿAbd Allāh, the son of our Imam Aḥmad, may Allah be pleased with him. Among them is The Refutation of the Jahmiyya [“al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyya”], as I read it to al-Mubārak ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār, from Ibrāhīm, from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, [from] Abū Bakr al-Khallāl, [who said]: Khiḍr ibn Muthannā al-Kindī informed me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal narrated to us, saying: My father said…”
It is noteworthy that this transmission chain extends back to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, whose student is identified as Khiḍr ibn Muthannā al-Kindī. This Khiḍr ibn Muthannā al-Kindī is an obscure narrator whose reliability cannot be verified, similar to the case in the Ẓāhiriyya manuscript of Kitāb al-Sunna, where the transmitter from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal was another unidentified narrator, Abū ʿAbdullāh Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Khālid al-Harawī.
Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī (d. 795 AH) on al-Khiḍr ibn al-Muthannā
Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali mentioned the following in his Taqrīr al-Qawāʿid wa-Taḥrīr al-Fawāʾid [al-Mashhūr bi-“Qawāʿid Ibn Rajab”, 2/293]:
ذكره الخلَّال في أحكام العبيد عن الخضر بن المثنَّى الكنديِّ عنه، والخضر هذا مجهول، ينفرد عن عبد الله برواية المناكير الَّتي لا يتابع عليها
Meaning:
“Al-Khallāl mentioned it in Aḥkām al-ʿAbīd (Rulings on Slaves) on the authority of al-Khiḍr ibn al-Muthannā al-Kindī from him. This al-Khiḍr is unknown [majhūl], as he alone narrates from ʿAbdullāh (ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal) objectionable reports [mānākir] that are not corroborated.”
Ibn Rajab also mentioned the following in his Fatḥ al-Bārī (9/23):
وروى الخضر الكندي، عن
عبد الله بن أحمد بن حنبل، عن أبيه، قال: إذا كان عليه تكبير وتلبية بدأ بالتكبير، ثم التلبية.
قال أبو بكر بن جعفر: لم يروها غيره.
قلت: الخضر هذا، غير مشهور، وهو يروي عن عبد الله بن أحمد المناكير التي تخالف روايات الثقات، عنه، والذي نقل الثقات، عن أحمد، أن الحاج لا يكبر حتى يقطع التلبية، فكيف يجتمعان عليهِ؟
Meaning:
Al-Khiḍr al-Kindī narrated from ʿAbdullāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, from his father, who said: “If one is required to say the takbīr and the talbiyah, one should begin with the takbīr, then the talbiyah.” Abū Bakr ibn Jaʿfar said: “No one else narrated this.”
I say: This al-Khiḍr is not well-known, and he narrates from ʿAbdullāh ibn Aḥmad objectionable reports that contradict the narrations of reliable transmitters from him. What the reliable transmitters have reported from Aḥmad is that the pilgrim does not say the takbīr until he ceases the talbiyah, so how can both be required of him?
More on ‘The Refutation of the Jahmiyya’ [al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyya] and al-Khiḍr ibn al-Muthannā shall be presented below from a 2018 work by two contemporary Ḥanbalīs known as: Aḥmad ʿAbd al-Sattār Ṣabrī al-Najjār and Abū al-Amīn Sinān Ibn Saʿd Āl Jarrāḥ.
For the full analysis, please download the pdf – HERE
